Slightest Touch
by babyicequeen666
Summary: Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. And she's not your average nice girl. More Summary inside.
1. Prologue

**Slightest Touch**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

**Prologue**

"I can't believe the wedding is tomorrow. Do we have everything?"

"Does anyone know where the tiara is? It's been misplaced again!"

"Mom! One of the bridesmaid's dresses has a wrinkle in it!"

"I can not believe you are just sitting there reading a book while my family is running around here with their heads cut off like chickens just because I'm getting married tomorrow. How do you do it?" I let out a chuckle and looked up from my book as my best friend threw herself onto the couch across from the chair that I was sitting in.

"It's called practice. Remember?" I asked as she snorted with laughter.

"How can I not? Are you ever going to forgive him?" she asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No. He's the one that took that step and never looked back. I'm only tolerating him because I have to for the sake of his brother's fiancée, who happens to be my best friend. Things will go back to normal after you and Sammie leave tomorrow for your lovely honeymoon. Or whatever it is that you call those things," I replied.

"Honeymoons, Art. And you know as well as I do that he still cares for you. He actually always asks about you when he sees or talks to Sam and I," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm sure he does," I said with sarcasm.

"Art…"

"I'm going out for air, Kiki. Try helping out your dysfunctional family before they end up killing one another before the wedding tomorrow," I said, slipping my shoes on and throwing on my jacket before heading outside as the chaos inside started to heat up. With the wind nipping lightly at my face, I headed down the street to the one person I knew that I could easily talk with without having to spill my problems to.

"Chaos over at the Orion house?"

"Shut up, Sam," I said as I gave him a dirty look before proceeding into the living room.

"Aren't you suppose to be helping the bride make sure everything is ready for tomorrow since you're the maid of honor?" he asked as I threw myself onto the couch and he sat in the chair across from me.

"I've been reading a book the entire time," I replied with a smirk as he merely shook his head.

"Just like Dean. Never want to be caught up in the chaos if it isn't something supernatural," he said, causing me to give him a dirty look as he sighed. I really didn't like this topic or possibly where this conversation was going.

"Art, you have to forgive him. He really does care about you," he said, causing me to laugh with a bit of venom in it.

"Are you sure Kiki didn't knock you in the head a few times when practicing your fighting skills? He was the one that walked out on me. He took that first step when we killed what was after me. He never looked back, Sam. How can you and Kiki just sit there and tell me that I have to take him back? We weren't even together," I snapped.

"Yes you were," he said.

"Oh what? Physically? Oh sure. That was about it. Not fucking mentally or emotionally, Sam. Not like you and Kiki," I said.

"Yes you were," he said, causing me to stand up and give a mocked laugh as I did so.

"What the hell would you know, Sam? You and Kiki had the perfect relationship right from the start. You got along just fine. You're getting married tomorrow. You two were meant for each other. Me and Dean? Never going to happen because we can not be anymore different," I snapped.

"You two are exactly the same. Attitude. Stubbornness. Everything. You two are probably more likely to be entwined at the soul than me and Kiki. It should be you and Dean at the alter tomorrow. Not me and Kiki. And you know it's true, Artemis," he said as he stood up.

"How can you stand up for your prick of an older brother when he did me wrong?!" I yelled as I looked at him in disbelief.

"I'm not, Artemis. Yes he was wrong walking away from you after everything happened, but you're just as wrong in this situation right now as he was then. He was hurt, Artemis, that you kept this from him. He fell in love with you. Something he never admits to anyone," he said as calmly as possible.

"And I didn't fall in love with him, Sam?" I asked with sarcasm.

"I didn't say that, Artemis, and you know it. And you know something? I can't believe I'm even having this conversation with you right now. You're just like Dean. Won't listen to a word anyone says when you think you're right. Stubborn bitch you are," he snapped.

"Too right you are. And I'm proud of it. I'm out. If Kiki calls looking for me, tell her I've drowned myself because people are retarded around here," I said before I stormed from the house before I did something I knew I would instantly regret later. Heading down the street without a direction in mind, I let out a scream and ran my hands through my hair in frustration at what just occurred.

"Why can't they just leave me alone about it?" I thought, quickly pulling the hood of my jacket over my head as it started to drizzle. Of all the things it needed to do the night before my best friend's wedding, it had to rain.

"I'm betting on no such luck on it being a good rain to bring the bride and groom luck. Haven't had that much luck in the bloody past. Oh shut up. God damn you, Sam," I muttered as I shook my head. No doubt the conversation that had happened would weigh heavily down on us for later, especially with us having to be around one another for the wedding tomorrow.

"Ugh. Great. I'm stuck with the bastard for several bloody hours," I said with a sigh as the rain started to fall just a little bit more.

"Of all the things you can call me, that's the only thing you can come up with?" I froze in mid-step as the smug voice rang crystal clear through my ears.

"What? A year or so and not even a hello? You're slacking, princess."

"Dean?" I whispered as I slowly turned around to see the man in question leaning against a fence with that trade mark smirk of his. The smirk that I had fallen in love with nearly three years ago. Or well the man attached to it anyways.

"Wait. What?" I thought, shaking my head before my eyes narrowed into slits as memories started flooding back.

"Looks like we got some catching up to do, princess," he said as he came toward me, causing me to snort with laughter.

"Like hell we do, Winchester. We're pretty much back where we started three years ago when we first met," I snapped as he stopped where he was and narrowed his eyes. He knew what I was talking about. The very first time we met and the fact that we never got along. The fact that I wouldn't let go of the past and never forgive him. The fact that he was indeed the jerk I thought he was when we first met three years ago. I was not about to let the past repeat itself.


	2. Chapter 1: Asylum

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Author's Note****: **For readers asking about whether or not a chapter is missing or if there was another story before this, the answer is no. There is no story before this and there is nothing missing. My prologues are written with the end result in mind. I take a piece of what I believe the epilogue should hold and put it into my prologue to get the reader's attention. I want the reader to want to know more. To want to read more to find out how the events came to be the way they are in the prologue. I hope that it clears things up on that issue. Happy reading!

* * *

**Asylum**

"Food here sucks."

"We're in a small town in Iowa, Kiki. What do you expect?" I asked, looking up from the newspaper I was reading as my best friend threw herself into the chair opposite of me with a bag of food in her hands.

"Something other than things in cans or something. Think there is a Dunkin' Donuts or something along the way to the next town?" she asked, causing me to shrug.

"Depends on if you know where we're going next," I replied as I dug through the bag and pulled out a box of granola bars.

"The only thing I could find is some guy dying in a river about 20 miles north from here," she said, causing me to snort with laughter as she opened up her laptop.

"Not supernatural enough for me. Are you sure you were looking in all the right spots?" I asked.

"I'm sure. Want to check?" she asked as she turned her laptop toward me. I happily pulled it toward me and began surfing the internet for any possible thing that looked supernatural in anyway. But maybe I should probably explain what I meant by that. My name is Artemis Flora Summers and I'm a 21 year old supernatural hunter. Yes. A supernatural hunter. As in I hunt demons and vampires and all the good stuff that comes with it. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.

"Find anything?"

"How does a man and a woman shot to death sound?" I asked as I looked up at my partner. Yes. A partner. I had a partner in crime. I couldn't do this just by myself. I'd probably be dead.

"Sounds like something you would see or hear about in any town," she replied.

"The guy had just started a new job as a police officer, no prior record, all around nice guy, and just….yeah. And the wife was I guess ok. Friends with everyone. Guy comes home…."

"Let me guess. Shoots his wife and then shoots himself?" she asked, causing me to nod as I handed the laptop back to her for her to look at.

"Yeah. Sounds right up our alley," I replied.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"He was working a round in an abandoned asylum," I replied with a snicker.

"Right up our alley. Where we heading this time?" she asked, shaking her head before closing her laptop and looking at me.

"Rockwood, Illinois," I replied, causing her to laugh.

"Another boring old town with insane demons and spirits and really gross food. How adventurous," she said, causing me to chuckle and throw the rest of my food away before we both got up and headed toward my truck.

"I always like those kind of adventures," I said as I tossed her the keys.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many hours do you think it'll take us?" she asked.

"Well Illinois is right next to Iowa. I was thinking a million years," I replied, causing her to roll her eyes as I smirked.

"You're real funny. You'll definitely have a hard time finding a guy," she said, causing me to roll my eyes this time.

"Shut up and drive. And wake me this time when we get to the damn place. Hell knows what you'll do this time since you nearly shot me with rock salt because the bloody ghost attacked you outside the convenient store we stopped at inside the damn city," I said as I threw my legs up onto the dashboard, ignoring the dirty looks she was giving me and simply smirking before closing my eyes to get some sleep.

* * *

"So no such luck with anything so far. Everyone is just hush-hush about this thing. Ruling it out simply as a suicide or something like that."

"So a guy with a rather good life just shoots his wife and then takes his own for no apparent reason? Just suicide? Give me a break. That's like telling me that you're going to take your own life for no reason whatsoever but the real reason is that I kept nagging you about that bloody ugly pink shirt you bought just to annoy the hell out of me," I said as Kiki got back in the truck.

"Shut up, smart-ass. I bet you couldn't even go a day without giving a smart-ass comment," she said as she started up the truck and pulled away from the Rockwood police station.

"I probably couldn't, which means I won't take that bet with you. Anyways, what's our plan?" I asked.

"We could check out the asylum, but it would kind of be a waste of time if we don't even know what's there or what's wrong with it," she replied.

"You mean to tell me that you haven't don't any research whatsoever about the place?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes.

"You slept the entire way here. Normally you drive and I research," she replied.

"Ok. So here's a thought. We haven't done any research yet and we think something might be wrong with the asylum because that's where he was before he went home. Who was with him during the time at the asylum?" I asked.

"His partner," she replied.

"So can't we go find the partner and ask him a few questions? I mean, if we can get anything out of the guy, we'll be able to know what we're up against because you know as well as I do that you just don't go suicidal with a good life," I said, causing her to nod.

"I was thinking the same thing. That's why I heard the guy saying that he was going out

for a few drinks," she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"And you know this because?" I asked.

"Because the guy's name is Gunderson. I read more into the article than you did, Artemis. At least one of us has a brain to ask questions and shoot later," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes. But she was right. Even though we were both supernatural hunters, we were two completely different hunters. She was more uptight and ask questions and shoot later format while I was more laid back and shoot now and ask questions later. But we were best friends so it usually worked out in the end.

"So where to?" I asked.

"You asking questions or am I?" she asked once she had pulled up to a pub.

"I'll go. You're usually not good with this sort of stuff. Check your laptop and see what else you can pull up. If the asylum is abandoned, there's probably a real good reason why it was. Give me about 20 minutes or so," I replied as I got out of the truck and straightened myself up before heading inside the pub. It really wasn't too crowd, which was a good thing so I could hear the guy talk or whatever, so I headed to the bar and ordered myself a beer before taking a look around to see if I could spot our guy.

"Hey buddy. How about leaving the poor guy alone, huh? The man's an officer. Why don't you show a little respect." I looked up from the bar counter and turned my head slightly to the right to see some guy come up to another guy sitting with some other guy and throw him out of the chair. I was expecting the guy to start a fight or something, but I was beyond surprised when he walked away and the guy that had thrown him from the chair took his seat.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I found the cop after all," I thought as I took my beer and situated myself not far from the table in order to listen in on the story but not appear to be eavesdropping. Sipping on my beer, I listened as the guy and the officer talked about what happen to the man's partner. I had to admit I was pretty grossed out just a bit, but nothing a little ghost hunting couldn't handle.

"Get anything?"

"Depends on if you got what we need while I was in there," I replied as I exited the pub about 20 minutes later, ignoring the looks of the guy, that had been harassing the officer earlier, leaning against a black car right outside.

"This is definitely right up our alley. What did the cop say about the asylum?" she asked.

"A ton. The straight-laced cop was pretty straight-laced. Just started on this unit I guess," I replied.

"What about the wife?" she asked.

"Squabble here or there but nothing out of the ordinary. Pretty much your happy and loving couple. Even talked about having kids," I replied.

"Ok. That so totally doesn't make any sense. Why would he just up and shoot himself and his wife if they had a loving, happy relationship and life?" she asked.

"Hello. Earth to Kiki. You still there? Why the hell do you think we're out here in the first place? To have a lovely fucking cup of coffee with some idiot trying to pick us up? Hell no. You know as well as I do that something's wrong with the asylum and it's in the form of a ghost or demon or something along those lines. Did you pull up anything else about the asylum?" I asked, causing her to sigh.

"I tried. But the damn hot guy over there was distracting me," she replied, nodding her head in the direction behind me. Turning my head, I saw the two guys from earlier conversing with one another and rolled my eyes. Typical Kiki.

"Ok. We need to focus here. Obviously we need to know more about that asylum before we go in to take care of whatever we need to take care of. So we need to gather all information by tomorrow night," I said, drawing Kiki's attention back in.

"Tomorrow night?" she asked, looking confused.

"Obviously we're not able to do it tonight since we don't have the information. And will you stop checking out those guys!" I exclaimed, causing her turn a slight shade of red as she looked back at me with a glare. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the two guys turn their heads toward us and I chuckled.

"Come on. Let's get out of here before they start hitting on us or something. God knows we need that," I said with sarcasm as she tossed me the keys.

"I should hang you right now," she said as I pulled away from the pub and headed for the nearest hotel. I merely smirked and shook my head.

"And then an evil spirit would get you. Then where would you be without me?" I asked.

"Heaven," she replied, causing me to bark with laughter and merely shake my head. She knew I was right and wouldn't argue with me. She knew she couldn't live without me and taking on that asylum tomorrow was really not the best time to kill me.

* * *

"So this spirit is like some psycho doctor or something that treated his patients wrong? And he's like jumping into people's bodies that come across him or something? I thought you said he couldn't leave the asylum."

"Artemis, do you ever pay attention? He isn't leaving the asylum. He's giving these people anger. His whole theory was to make his patients so angry that they would work through their problems, no matter what they were. It just turned out the wrong way or something like that. Anymore stupid questions?" Kiki asked, giving me an annoyed look as I shut the truck off outside the asylum and got out to head to the back.

"Yeah. Are you usually this grumpy after not having hours of sleep? Do you like plan these things so that you can be the evil witch of the west or something?" I asked with a smirk. She gave me a glare and grabbed a gun from our stash inside the back of the truck.

"Want to live to see the killing of this ghost? Or perhaps morning?" she asked as she loaded it with rock salt bullets.

"Those won't kill me. Only hurt me some. Duh," I replied with a laugh, loading my own gun as she growled in annoyance.

"Don't test my patience, Art," she said.

"You know something. You really need a boyfriend. Come on," I said as I stuck another handgun into the back of my jeans and walked toward the asylum before she could say anything else. It was only a few seconds before I heard Kiki at my side and I gave her a look.

"You know I hate you, right?" she asked as we hopped the fence and headed inside.

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard the story like a million times. Keep your eyes peeled. Which way?" I asked.

"South wing. Did you grab the matches or whatever?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes and pull one of my lighters out of my pocket.

"I like the salt and burn bodies ones. Always fun," I replied with a smirk as she in turn rolled her eyes.

"Pyromaniac," she muttered, causing me to snicker before suddenly stopping and looking around. Kiki went to say something and I held up my hand to keep her quiet. Something was just around the corner and I could hear it.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"Voices," I replied as I cautiously moved toward the room at hand with my one hand gun drawn out. I could hear Kiki following me and the sound of yelling caused me to nearly jump when two figures came from around the corner with guns drawn as well.

"Fuck," I hissed as I let several rounds go off with my gun, causing the two figures to fire off as well. I yelped when I felt a hit to the side as I tried to turn and duck, causing both Kiki and one of the figures to yell.

"Hold it, Dean! They're human!"

"No shit Sherlock! What gave you that fucking idea? The fact that we haven't vanished yet?" I asked as I quickly stood up despite the pain throbbing in my side.

"Well what the hell do you think we are? Ghosts?" the other asked, causing me to growl.

"What did you expect us to do? Play nice?" I asked.

"It would be a start," he replied, causing me to step forward, only to be stopped by Kiki as she held her arm out.

"Stop, Artemis. They're human. We're human. We both realize that. Are you ok?" she asked.

"Fine. Nothing a little alcohol or something won't cure. It was just rock salt," I replied as I rubbed my side.

"Obviously you seem to know you were hit with rock salt. Who are you? And what are you doing in the asylum?" the first one asked.

"We're hunting ghosts. What the fuck do you think we're doing in here?" I asked, my sarcasm getting the better of me.

"Of really? In tight jeans and a tank top? I don't buy it," the other replied with a bit of cockiness in his voice.

"How about you go to hell? I really don't care what you buy," I snapped.

"Artemis, that's enough. Look, obviously we might be looking for the same thing. You both were hanging out at the pub yesterday night looking for the cop that was partnered with the guy that shot his wife and then himself," Kiki said as she tried to shut me up.

"Wait. How do you know this?" the first guy asked.

"Wait a minute. Shut up, Sam. I recognize you. I recognize both of you. You two were outside the pub last night while we were there," the other said as he seemed to have some kind of recognition flash through his eyes.

"Way to go, Einstein. Anything else you want to tell us about what we were doing last night?" I asked, causing him to scowl and step toward me.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you how to talk to someone older than yourself? You're what? 14? 15? And shouldn't you be at home tucked away in your bed?" he asked as I growled. Kiki, knowing what I was about to do, stepped between us and did her best to keep me from attacking him.

"Artemis, kill him later. After we've found Ellicott's body," she said, causing both guys to stop what they were doing and look at us.

"Wait. You're looking for Ellicott's body? What are you two? Supernatural hunters?" the first asked.

"I'm Lauren. But everyone that knows me calls me Kiki. And this tempered little thing is Artemis. We know about the asylum and Ellicott's methods or whatever. A little salt and gasoline should do the trick. What about you?" she asked, causing both guys to look at each other.

"I'm Sam and this is my brother, Dean. We're actually looking for the spirits that are haunting this place," the first said.

"Well I guess we're on the same team then. Sort of. Artemis, keep you're mouth shut for now so we can….Artemis?" But I completely ignored Kiki as I crept toward the side of the room where I heard a faint little noise. Motioning for Kiki to help me, I crept toward what I think was an overturned bed and quickly pulled it down, only to nearly fall over in the process of finding that it was a girl scared out of her mind.

"Whoa. Ok. It's ok. We're not going to hurt you. What's your name?" Kiki asked as the girl quickly got to her feet when she realized we weren't going to hurt her.

"Katherine. Kat," she replied.

"Alright. I'm Kiki and this is Artemis. Over there is Sam and Dean," Kiki said.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" I asked as I gave the girl a look.

"Uh…My boyfriend Gavin…"

"Is he here?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Obviously not," I replied, causing him to give me a dirty look.

"Alright! What about Gavin?" Kiki asked.

"Uh….he thought it would be fun to come and see some ghosts. I just thought….thought it was all pretend. I've seen things…."

"Alright. Sam's going to get you out of here…."

"Artemis, you go with Sam. Lord knows what kind of trouble you'll get into if you go with him," Kiki said as she cut Dean off, causing him to give her the most dirtiest look I have ever seen in my entire life.

"No, no, no! I'm not leaving without Gavin," Kat said, causing me to roll my eyes. Kiki elbowed me in the side because she knew I was going to say something really nasty, but I kept my mouth shut as Dean spoke.

"This is no joke. It's dangerous," he said.

"That's why I have to find him," she said, causing me to sigh. She had this stubborn look on her face and I knew we were not going to get anywhere if we didn't let her come.

"Alright. Let's just spilt up. The faster we can find Gavin and Ellicott's body, the faster it can stop haunting this damn place and I can get a proper night sleep or something. Come on," I said as I grabbed Sam's arm and dragged him out of the room to start searching for this damn kid's boyfriend as well as the psycho doctor's body.

* * *

"So you two hunt spirits and demons just like Dean and I do?"

"Yes, Sam. For the hundredth time, yes. Kiki and I hunt spirits and demons. Are you just asking these questions to piss me off or are you just stupid and ignorant? Gavin!?" I asked as I gave Sam a dirty look before passing through another room.

"I'm not doing anything to piss anyone off. I'm just asking because you don't look to hunt the supernatural," he replied.

"And neither do you. So we're even. Gavin?! Oh I hate it when people think they're so brave. It makes me want to strangle them or something. I really hope you and your brother are not this stupid or…." But he cut me off as he hurried ahead of me and knelt down next to what I think was a body.

"Gavin? Come on man," he said as he shook the figure, causing me to sigh. At least we found the kid.

"What? Who are you?" Gavin asked as he realized who was in front of him.

"My name is Sam and that's Artemis. Uh….we found your girlfriend," he replied.

"Kat? Is she alright?" Gavin asked.

"Yeah. She's worried about you. What happen?" I asked.

"Uh…I was running and I think I fell," he replied.

"Running from what?" Sam asked, causing me to give the kid a look as well.

"Uh….there…there was this girl. Her face….it was like messed up," he replied.

"Did she try to hurt you?" I asked, catching on to what Sam was getting at before he could even tell me what his thoughts were. That was something I liked having. I could tell what someone was thinking just by facial expressions and body movements.

"She uh…."

"She what?" Sam asked.

"She tried to kiss me," he replied, causing me to gag. Kiss him? What kind of sick spirits were we dealing with?

"But she didn't try to hurt you physically?" Sam asked, ignoring my gestures.

"Dude, she tried to kiss me," he replied with just as gross of an expression as I had. Yes I was tough but come on. I was still a girl for bloody sakes.

"Well it could have been a lot worse. Now, do you remember anything else that happened?" Sam asked.

"Well…uh….she tried to whisper something in my ear," he replied.

"What?" I asked as I gave him a confused look. It really wasn't like spirits or ghosts to do something like whispering in your ear. They usually torment you into insanity. That usually put you in a mental institution. Oh wait. We're in one already. Gee. I don't have far to go.

"I don't know. I ran like hell from there. It was scary as hell," he replied.

"Yeah. Well….." But the words didn't even get past my mouth when I heard a scream from somewhere down the hall. It sounded like the kid that was with Kiki and Dean, but I couldn't be to sure as I bolted out of the room as quick as my legs would carry me.

"Kiki!" I yelled.

"Artemis! Kat! Don't worry! We're going to get you out of there!" I skidded around the corner to find Dean and Kiki banging against a door with a screaming Kat inside.

"What the hell is going on?" Sam asked as I heard him come up behind me with Gavin.

"She's in there with one of them," Dean replied as he tried to get the door open with a crowbar I think.

"What? How the hell did that happen?" I asked, looking at Kiki as I maneuvered myself to try and help get the door open.

"Kat!"

"Kat, listen to me! It's not going to hurt you! You have to calm down and face it. It's just a spirit. It's not going to do any harm to you," Sam said, causing me to look up at him with a confused look.

"She's got to what?" Dean and I asked at the same time, causing us to give each other dirty looks but not say anything.

"It's trying to communicate with us. You've got to face it," he said, ignoring us.

"You face it," her petrified voice came.

"It has to be you. It's the only way you can get out. Come on. You can do it," he said, causing me to stand up slowly and back away from the door.

"Artemis?" Kiki asked.

"Step away from the door. He's right," I replied as I gave her a look. Both she and Dean gave me looks but slowly backed away from the door. I knew what Sam was getting at and I knew mine and Kiki's suspicions from the start were more than likely right.

"Man, I hope you're right about this," Dean said as Kiki nodded.

"Me too," Sam replied. I was about to say something when I heard the lock of the door click and the door slowly start to open. Cautiously looking around Dean's body that was blocking the door, I saw Kat standing there with a look on her face. As Dean and Sam checked the room, Kiki and I looked at her.

"137," she said as she looked at us.

"Sorry?" Dean asked as he looked at her.

"It whispered in my ear "137"," she replied, causing Kiki and I to look at one another.

"Room number," both Dean and Sam said as if reading our minds.

"Ellicott," we added, causing the boys to look at us before turning to look at the kids as they loaded messed with their duffle bag.

"You guys ready to leave now?" Dean asked.

"That's an understatement," Kat replied as Gavin said, "Yeah."

"You get them out of here. I'm going to go find room 137," Dean said as he started heading down the hall from which Sam and I had come from with Gavin just moments earlier. I made to follow him, but Kiki stopped me.

"I'll go. I'll give you a call when I've found Ellicott's body so that you can have the joy of burning it. But I can't leave you alone with him and I doubt it's a good idea to leave Sam with these two kids. Help Sam out. I don't need to bail you out for attempted murder," she said, causing me to scowl.

"Kiki…"

"Artemis, just do it. I'll call you once we find it," she said, causing me to sigh. I knew she was right. I would end up killing the prick if I went with him and I didn't need my best friend to get caught up in it.

"Call me when you've found it if we haven't found you by then," I said as I shoved Gavin and Kat ahead of me and grabbed onto Sam's arm. Allowing Sam to shake his grip from me, he walked just slightly ahead of me as Kat and Gavin began asking him questions. I hated that I couldn't go and just get the job done with Kiki. We knew exactly what was going on from the start but these two idiots were making it hard for us to do our job. Especially the hard headed prick that made those stupid comments back to me. What person in their right fucking mind would argue with me to the extent that he had? Not even Kiki dared to argue with me like that. Not even my best friend.

"They're barred." I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard Kat's slightly panicked voice.

"Something's wanting to keep us in. Doesn't want us to get out," Sam said as he looked at me, causing me to scoff.

"No shit, Sherlock. And it's not the patients. Kiki and I knew that from the start. It's Ellicott," I said, causing him to give me a look. I merely scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"And you call yourself a supernatural hunter?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes this time. He was about to say something when I heard a ring and I saw Sam dig for his cell phone and open it.

"Hello?" he asked, causing me to sigh. Who in their right mind would call at a time like this?

"What?" I snapped out of my one sentenced thought to look at Sam with curiosity.

"Where are you?" he asked, causing me to realize that it had to be his brother on the phone and that meant that he and Kiki had found something. But why didn't she call me?

"I'm on my way. Stay here. Do either of you know how to handle a shot gun?" he asked as he hung up his cell phone and looked at Gavin and Kat, causing me to scoff.

"I'm going to kill that bitch," I snarled as I quickly headed out of the room and back down the hall. I was maybe halfway down the hall when I heard Sam's footsteps behind me and fall into place beside me.

"Do you even know where they're at?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter. I'm going to salt and burn Ellicott's body and then I'm going to shoot and bury Kiki for not calling me to tell me she found the body. Or whatever it is your brother was telling you," I replied.

"They're in the basement. They've run into the thing that the patients seem to be trying to warn us about. And you're unarmed. You expect to fight unarmed?" he asked as he gave me a crazy look.

"Look, Sam. It's the spirit of Ellicott that's making people around here go crazy. Something to do with anger or something like that. I don't know all the details because that's Kiki's job. I just shoot now and ask questions later, ok? And I'm not that stupid to go unarmed," I said as I pulled the other hand gun from out from the back of my jeans. He gave me a crazed look and I chuckled.

"It's a good thing I'm a girl. I can store things in places you can't," I said, causing him to quickly shake his head before we hurried off toward the basement. As we came across a door that read "Boiler Room," I pulled on the door to discover it was locked.

"Weird," I thought before Sam nudged me and nodded at the door behind us. Cautiously opening it, he went in first and started scanning the place as I cautiously watched behind us to make sure nothing creepy jumped out at us from behind.

"Artemis?" I turned my head to see Sam nodding toward a doorway that was opening on it's own.

"Sam, I really don't know if that's a good idea," I said as he started walking toward it. My gut was telling me not to go in there, but Sam apparently wasn't listening to me and I merely shook my head before I quickly followed him into the next room. It was like some sort of operation room or examination room or something.

"This is really creepy," I said as I kicked a chair out of my way and continued to look around the room. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye as did Sam and we both cautiously stepped toward it.

"Dean?" he asked just as I called out for Kiki. This place was really starting to creep me out and I mean majorly creep me out. Normally I wouldn't let something like this creep me out, but it was seriously creeping me out. However, a strange feeling crept through me as Sam proceeded toward a drawn curtain and I turned slightly around. What I wasn't expecting what a decayed looking guy standing right in front of me.

"Ahhh!!"

"Artemis!" But that was all I heard as darkness consumed me.

* * *

"Oh thank god. Thought we might have to drown you in water or something to wake you up, princess." I groaned as my eyes fluttered open to see the one person I really didn't need to see. Dean.

"Fuck," I muttered, wincing in pain as he simply smirked.

"Yeah. Good morning to you too, princess," he said as I slowly sat up. Looking around, I saw that we were in mine and Kiki's hotel room we had gotten yesterday before heading to the asylum. Or was it yesterday.

"Fuck off, bloody prick. Where's Kiki?" I asked as I noticed my best friend was missing from the room as was his friend. Or was it brother? Oh I really didn't care at this point.

"Filing a theft with the police," he replied as he casually leaned back in the chair he sat in and looked at me.

"What are you talking about? What theft? And how long have I been out?" I asked.

"Since the other day. Ellicott's ghost knocked you out. Drove my brother slightly insane. Sam tried to kill me and Kiki as we were trying to find Ellicott's body, which you two seemed to be after in the first place. We salted it and burned it before the ghost could do anymore damage to any of us. Brought you back here. You've been out ever since. Short version of the story. Oh. And your truck was stolen sometime last night," he replied, causing me to stand up so quickly I fell backwards back onto the bed again in shock.

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah. You're friend is filing a police report. Doubt it'll do you any good since it'll probably be in another city or state by this time," he replied, causing me to groan. Great. What else could go wrong?

"I swear that if I could get my hands on whoever took our truck, I would kill and bury them right where they stood. Get your damn feet off the table, Dean."

"How could this happen? Why did it happen?" I asked as I looked at Kiki.

"I don't know and I don't want to know. How the hell are we suppose to get to our next destination now?" she asked.

"I don't know. We float from city to city and state to state. It's just not a straight run, Kiki. And what about the guns and knives and such?" I asked.

"You know we always bring them into the hotel where ever we're staying just in case. Never being prepared is never a good thing," she replied.

"So now what? We're stuck here?" I asked.

"No. Sam's offered for to get us to our next point. Where ever that may be so that we can get ourselves back on track. Also, we need to get a new vehicle," she said.

"What?! Oh no! I don't think so!" Dean and I exclaimed at the same time before shooting each other with dirty looks.

"Dean, we don't even know our next coordinates. The trail for dad is getting cold. The least we can do is get them to a town where they can get a car or something to get themselves back on their way. Obviously we can't do it here. The least we can do is help them out," Sam said, causing me to scoff.

"There is no way I'm spending any amount of time in a bloody car with that thing you call a guy," I said, pointing to Dean, which caused him to scoff.

"It's not like I would look forward to spending any quality time with you either, princess," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Artemis, it's just until we can get ourselves situated. They helped us out with the asylum and we're going to get nowhere without a vehicle," Kiki said, causing me to sigh.

"You know what? Whatever. Next town over should probably have a car dealership or something. We'll take the girl and the bitch there and get them on their way," Dean said as he stood up, causing me to throw one of the pillows on the bed at him. He turned around and looked at me with a murderous look in his eyes.

"I may be a bitch, Dean, but this bitch doesn't play very nice. Watch it," I growled, causing him to scoff and head out the door. Looking back at Kiki and Sam, I shook my head.

"You're dead when he leaves," I said as I got up slowly and headed toward the bathroom, slamming the door after entering. Looking in the mirror I could see a slight black and blue mark on my cheek and I groaned. Great. This was lovely. Just what I needed. Sighing, I turned on the bathroom shower and let it run as I ran a hand through my hair. What the hell was Kiki thinking? God! She was going to be the death of me if I didn't kill the fucking prick of a bastard first. God he was so irritating.

"You best watch yourself, Dean. I don't play nice," I said as I glared at the mirror. Fun times were about to start and I knew the bitch inside me was definitely going to come out and play.


	3. Chapter 2: Scarecrow

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Scarecrow**

"Come on kid! Princess! Up and out! Time's a wasting!" I let out a string of curses and pulled my head slightly out from beneath all the pillows on my bed as I heard the pounding on the door. A door to my right opened up and I saw a blurry figure make it's way to the door to open it.

"What the hell, Dean? It's like 3 o'clock or something like that. Did you have to pound on the damn door?" Kiki's voice asked as I pushed myself up to see the two figures standing outside our door.

"Sorry. Our dad called and we've got some things for our next hunt that we need to get going to. Sorry about my brother. Your friend up?" I heard Sam's voice asked.

"No," I replied as I saw the two of them walking into the room after Kiki shut the door.

"Up and dressed, princess. We haven't got time to waist," Dean said, causing me to flip him off as I reached for my glasses on the side table. No wonder the three of them were blurry in front of me. Yes. I wore glasses. Well, I wore contacts for the most part, but not when I was sleeping. I really didn't need problems with my eyes other than the fact that I was almost blind as a bat without them in or my glasses on. Have been since I was about 14 or so.

"You know something? It's more polite to knock than pound on a door when people are sleeping," I said, putting my glasses on before pushing myself out of bed and heading toward the bathroom to get dressed.

"Well we apologize, princess. Guess there's no time for you to spend three hours in front of the damn mirror to get ready. God help us for ruining that," he said with as much sarcasm he could muster that caused me to flip him off with both hands before grabbing my duffle and slamming the bathroom door shut.

"Sorry. She's not exactly a morning person. I wasn't even expecting you two to come pounding on our door at this time. Guess I was wrong," Kiki's voice said, causing me to roll my eyes. Sometimes I wonder what she would do without me when we met people since obviously I could somewhat read people easily just by their facial expressions and body language.

"Yeah. You were. Come on, princess! We haven't got all day!" I scowled as I heard Dean's voice and threw open the door.

"You were the one that came pounding on our door. You should at least have a sensitive bone in that god damn bloody body of yours to know that I need a few minutes to get myself dressed," I snapped as he smirked at me.

"I'm sorry, princess. I probably should care more about it. But I don't," he said, his smirk widening, causing me to scream in frustration and slam the door shut again.

"The nerve of him," I muttered as I dug through my bag for some clothes. Pulling out a pair of black track pants and a tank top, I quickly got dressed and clipped my hair back before leaving the bathroom and throwing my bag on my bed.

"It's about time," he said, causing me to throw one of the pillows at him. He merely dodged it and gave a short laugh. I merely ignored him as I pulled my converses out from beneath the bed and threw them on before helping Kiki pack up the rest of our weapons.

"Alright. Got everything?" Sam asked as he helped us take our things out to the black car we had noticed sitting outside the pub the one night before we had all met up in the asylum. I had to admit that it was a nice car and gave Kiki a knowing look.

"Let me guess. You like the car?" she asked with a laugh.

"Hell yes. Let me guess. It's a '67 Impala?" I asked as I looked at Sam, causing Dean to snort with laughter. I turned to him with a glare and he merely smirked.

"It amuses me that a girl would even know this kind of stuff," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and turn to Kiki. She merely just shook her head and signaled for me to get in the car as Sam held the door open for us. I carefully climbed into the back and made myself comfortable behind the driver's seat, in which Sam took over while Dean sat in the passenger seat.

"Alright. We'll get you two to the next town and hopefully you'll be on your way," Sam said as he started up the Impala and pulled out of the motel parking lot.

"Kiki, get to researching on your computer and see what you can find so that we can have some sort of directions when we are able to get another vehicle. Question. Did you even lock up the truck the other night? As in all windows sealed and the doors locked?" I asked as I looked at my best friend, causing her to give me a look.

"What the hell do you think? That I'm just going to leave it unlocked in a god forsaken city we don't know? We're not in L.A. where we can actually park the truck in a garage or something like that. And this is the first time in what? About 3 years or so that it's happened?" she asked, causing me to give her a glare before nodding. It was true. We had known each other more than 3 years, but she had pretty much become my partner around that time when I actually had to explain to her what the hell I did after something attacked her and her family. Well, the family was freaked out to say the most and pretty much forgot about it once it was over, but Kiki was enthralled as ever and became my partner from that moment on. Although we were the best of friends, she and I were absolutely different. Right down to our sense of style. Where she was about 5'8 with long curly brunette hair and chocolate brown eyes, I was merely 5'0 exactly with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and piercing icy blue-green eyes. She was more conservative with what she wore, which included fitting jeans and long sleeved shirts or blouses for the most part while I was petty content with changing my outfits day to day. It really depended on my mood, but I was one for skirts and tank tops in usually bright colors for the hell of it with my converses. She was more level headed and always thought before she spoke or did something. I was quite opposite. I was stubborn, hard-headed, and had an attitude of a snake ready to strike. I was usually shoot now and ask questions later. Like they say about opposites. Opposites attract and that's exactly what Kiki and I were.

"Get to researching now," I said, causing her to roll her eyes before pulling out her laptop as I leaned my head against the back seat and shut my eyes. The conversation Dean and Sam were having was enough to bore me to death if you asked me. However, as I heard the car pull to a stop, my eyes snapped open to find that Sam had pulled the car off the road and his brother, much like me, was looking at him in slight confusion. Looking over at Kiki, she merely shrugged and returned her attention to her laptop.

"We're not going to Indiana," Sam said.

"We're not?" Dean asked.

"No. We're going to California. Dad called from a pay phone. It had a Sacramento area code," he replied, causing Kiki and I both to look at one another. What were they arguing about now?

"Sam…"

"Dean, if this demon killed Mom and Jess, and Dad's closing in, we gotta be there. We gotta help," he said.

"Dad doesn't want our help," Dean said.

"But I don't care," he said.

"He's given us an order, Sam," Dean said, causing Kiki and I to look at one another with raised eyebrows in question. They were following orders from a guy that wasn't even with them right at this moment? What kind of nut does that?

"But I don't care. We don't always have to follow what he says, Dean. I mean…."

"I can't listen to this anymore. What the hell are they arguing about? They follow directions and orders from a man we've yet to see?" I whispered to Kiki.

"Their father. Guess he's hunting something and by the looks of it, he doesn't want his sons' help at all. And I agree with you. I can't listen to this anymore either. I mean, we fight but it's usually about hunts we're on," she replied, shaking her head.

"No kidding. And we don't have a source that gives us orders either. It's like…." But I stopped talking as Sam got out of the car with a scoff, causing us to look at one another before looking up to the front at Dean.

"Stay here," he said as he threw open the car door and got out.

"Like hell we are," I said as I gave Kiki a look and we both got out to head toward the back of the car where Dean and Sam were arguing as Sam was packing a few things into a bag. Looking at one another, we knew Sam was taking off or something along those lines. And we knew we were right when we saw Sam start to walk away.

"Come on. You can't be serious," Dean said.

"I am serious," Sam replied.

"I don't like the sounds of that, Artemis. I really don't," Kiki said, causing me to shrug.

"Don't get in the middle. Obviously the brothers have to work it out or whatever. I'm just wanting to get to the next town and get a vehicle so that we can get back out on our own," I said, causing her to shake her head.

"No. I'm serious, Artemis. Something doesn't feel right about him leaving," she said, causing me to look at her in confusion.

"What are you going on about?" I asked.

"Something just doesn't feel right, ok? Let's just put it to you that way," she replied, causing suspicion to rise in my mind.

"You think he might be in danger or something?" I asked, causing her to shrug.

"I don't know. Maybe. But I don't know. I've just got this feeling," she replied, causing me to sigh. I knew what she was intending to do and it didn't sit well with me, but I really didn't want to argue with her when she had these feelings. Usually she was right when she said she had a bad feeling or whatever.

"So what do you want to do? Go with him?" I asked, causing her to shrug.

"Maybe. I don't know. What do you think?" she asked.

"I think you're kind of crazy, but normally when you say you've got a bad feeling, it's usually right. Do what you have to. I'll stick my way up with that jerk over there for a while if that's what you choose," I replied, causing her to nod and go to the back of the Impala where Dean was yelling at Sam. However, his attention turned to Kiki when he noticed she was rummaging through our things.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked as she slammed the trunk of the Impala closed and started walking toward Sam.

"Let it go. It's worse having Kiki pissed off at you then me. She's going to look after your brother. Don't have a bloody meltdown. Oi! Kiki, I need the laptop, darling," I said, causing Kiki to roll her eyes and hand me the laptop before finishing what she was saying to Sam. I merely rolled my eyes before walking to the passenger side of the car and getting in. Situating myself, it was only a slight minute before the driver's side door opened and Dean threw himself into the seat. He gave me a look and I smirked.

"Not one word," he growled, causing me to smirk wider. He knew I was going to say something, but for once I decided I was going to be nice and keep my mouth shut. As he started the car and started moving, I looked back to Kiki and Sam and sighed. This was going to be torture. Stuck with this jerk until I could get myself situated. What fun this was going to be.

* * *

"If you're so worried about your brother, why don't you just give him a call?"

"If you're so worried about him, why don't you give him a call?" I gave Dean a glare as he started pulling into a small town somewhere inside Indiana, but kept the nasty comment to myself.

"I don't even know your brother. If I was worried about anyone, I would be worried about Kiki before I would be worried about your brother. And your body language much readily says that you want to call your brother to make sure he's ok. I may be younger than you by a few years, but I'm not as stupid as you may think me to be," I said, causing him to roll his eyes as he came to a stop.

"How about you just keep quiet for the next couple of hours? It might do us both some good," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and lean back into the seat. We had been together maybe a couple of hours and it was pretty much nonstop arguing or sarcastic comments the entire way here.

"Stay in the car," he said as he shut the Impala off.

"Like hell I'm listening to you. Something inside your car might just swallow me up," I said as I pushed the door open and got out.

"I was counting on it," he said before walking toward some guy on a porch with a sign that said "Scotty's Café." I growled in annoyance, but kept my mouth shut as I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head and hurried after him. If there was something supernatural going on, I sure in hell wasn't going to miss it just because of him.

"Let me guess. Scotty," he said as we approached the guy sitting on the porch. The guy looked up at the sign before looking back at us.

"Yep," the guy said with a slight nod.

"Hi, my name is John Bonham," Dean said.

"Isn't that the drummer for Led Zeppelin?" Scotty asked, causing Dean and I to look at one another in somewhat amazement. A lot of people didn't really know that in a small town like this. Or so I think.

"Wow. Good. Classic rock fan. Heh-heh. Uh…this is my girlfriend, Artemis," he said, gesturing to me as I gave him a glare, but it vanished with a small smile as the guy looked at me. He looked at me for a second before turning his attention back to Dean.

"What can I do for you, John?" Scotty asked, causing Dean to pull some papers out of his pocket and unfold them.

"Was wondering if….uh…you saw these people by chance," he replied as he handed the papers over. Getting a small glimpse of the faces on the pages, I saw that it was a man and woman, most likely married by their last names. Looking at Dean with a questionable look, he ignored me and spoke to the guy.

"They're friends of mine. Passed through here somewhere around here about a year ago or so. Was wondering if you saw them pass through here. I've already asked around Scottsburg and Salem…."

"Sorry. We don't get a lot of strangers here," he replied quickly, causing me to give him a suspicious look before looking at Dean. He seemed to be in agreement with me and said something to the guy before we started walking across the street toward another building.

"He's lying. I can tell just in his facial expressions that he's lying," I said as I looked over my shoulder to see the guy watching us intently. It was kind of creepy and I turned my attention back to Dean as he spoke.

"Don't count your chickens too quick, princess. Let's see what these people have got to say," he said as we entered what I think was like a convenient store or something along the lines. It looked to be a place to get drinks and candies or whatever. Maybe. I wasn't really sure.

"Are you sure they didn't stop for gas or something?" I snapped out of my thoughts from the general look of the place as Dean's voice rang through my ears.

"Nope. Don't remember them. Said they were friends of yours?" an older looking man asked as he handed the papers back to Dean.

"Yeah," I replied as I walked to Dean's side and gave the man a nod.

"Did one of them have a tattoo?" We both looked up as a girl came downstairs with a box in her hands. I could sense Dean's eyes following her and without thinking, I smacked him upside the head and gave him a dirty look as his eyes narrowed at me.

"That's right. Did you forget what you told the other guy across the street, you jackass?" I replied to the girl before I hissed the last part to Dean. He gave me a glare and rubbed the spot on the back of his head before turning to the girl.

"Yeah. He had a tattoo on the arm," he said, handing the papers over to the girl to look over. She looked at them before looking over at the man.

"Don't you remember? They passed through here. They were just married," she said, causing the man to look like he was thinking before speaking.

"Yes. Now I remember. They stopped for gas. Weren't here for more than 10 minutes," the guy said.

"Anything else you can remember?" he asked.

"Told them how to get back on the interstate. They left town after that," the guy replied with a slight shrug. I gave Dean a look and we bid good-bye after getting directions to the interstate before going back to the Impala.

"You know these people are lying, right?" I asked.

"Don't count your chickens before their hatched, princess. And did you have to hit me so hard like you did? I probably have a black and blue mark forming there because of it," he replied as he ran a hand over the spot where I hit him. I merely rolled my eyes and got into the car.

"It serves you right. When you tell someone something, maybe you should stick to it so it doesn't bite you in the fucking bloody ass later. And what is with the nickname, jerk?" I asked as he gave me a smirk.

"What? Annoy you?" he asked.

"I'm not your fucking pet, Dean. And I'm certainly not your average girl," I replied with a glare.

"Whatever you say, princess," he said, the smirk on his face growing wider. I covered my face with my hands and gave a frustrated scream as we started for the interstate. How could someone like that be so damn annoying? I knew I got on peoples' nerves, but this was just not funny. And to top it all off, he was enjoying this. I was going to kill him later. However, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard something buzzing from the backseat. Dean, hearing it as well, moved his arm over the seat and dug in his bag until he pulled out some sort of device that seemed to be going crazy.

"What the bloody hell is that?" I asked, causing him to give me a look of disbelief.

"Are you serious?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Does it look like I know what the damn thing is? Do you think I would ask you a question like that if I really knew?" I asked, sarcasm dripping heavily off my tongue. He rolled his eyes and slowed the Impala down just outside what appeared to be an apple orchard. The thing was just going crazy, causing Dean to get out. I gave a frustrated sigh and got out of the car as well.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell it is?" I asked as I quickened my steps to meet his. Hey. He was like 6'0 or something like that and I was definitely at least a foot smaller than him, which caused me to have to walk just a little bit quicker than him.

"It's an EMF, princess. Let's us know if there are any spirits or something. I can't believe you don't know what it is. And you call yourself a supernatural hunter," he said, shaking his head.

"Just because we're supernatural hunters doesn't mean we have to use things like that to track what we need to kill the bad thing. And that's just fucking creepy," I said as I halted my movements to stare at this really big black thing hanging on a wooden post. Dean turned his head at my comment and he too took in the sight of the giant black scarecrow that was hanging on the wooden post in the middle of the orchard. Stepping closer, I gulped back my fear at the intense look it had on his face. It didn't have any eyes like most scarecrows you see on farms or in orchards and it definitely didn't have any straw poking out of it's arms and legs. It looked to be more like a skin-made scarecrow or something along those lines. This was definitely not your typical scarecrow.

"Dude, you fugly." Dean's comment brought me back out of my thoughts to give him the strangest look.

"Fugly? That's the best you could come up with? How about really fucking ugly and really fucking creepy?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes before grabbing a nearby ladder and placing it near the scarecrow. Half of me was hoping that the damn thing would come to life and eat him and the other half of me was hoping it didn't because lord knows what I would have to do to get out of here. Driving the Impala was out of the question since I really didn't know how to drive something smaller than a truck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like the big toys or whatever.

"Nice tat." I was once again brought out of my thoughts as I watched Dean speak to the scarecrow.

"Nice tat?" I asked as he got down from the ladder and started walking back to the car.

"Matches the tattoo on the guy's arm. Come on. We've got some people to talk to," he said as he handed me the papers from his pocket. Looking at the picture of the one guy, I recognized the tattoo on his arm that Dean probably found on the scarecrow. But how? I was so not liking where this hunt was taking us.

* * *

Pulling up to the gas station once again, Dean shut the Impala off before getting out to converse with the girl from earlier. I gave a sigh and ran a hand through my hair before pulling out my cell phone. Checking to see if I had any messages, I dialed Kiki's number.

"Hello?"

"This is definitely the fucking creepiest thing I have ever had to do," I said, causing her to chuckle.

"I'm sensing something really big and ugly?" she asked.

"And creepy. Scarecrow that looks like it's been made out of skin," I replied.

"What?" she asked in shock.

"Yeah. Not straw like most scarecrows you see. This one actually looks like it has been made out of skin," I replied.

"Well how far have you looked into it?" she asked.

"Not much. Dean and I just got back into the town again after checking out this orchard about a mile from the town's center. Some stupid radio device or something started going crazy as we were passing the orchard and it let us to this creepy looking scarecrow," I replied.

"Uh….I really don't know where to start. Maybe you could see if this kind of thing has been happening for more than the three years that their father has said. Check town records and whatnot. There is bound to be something you can use," she said.

"No kidding. What about you? Sacramento yet?" I asked.

"Nope. Still at this bus station we couldn't hitch hike to. Bus leaves tomorrow at like 5:05 in the afternoon," she replied, causing me to pull my phone away from my ear slightly and look at it with slight confusion. Something was wrong with the way she was talking.

"Is everything ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm just worried about Sam," she replied.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked as I glanced at the side mirror to see Dean still talking to the girl. If he knew Kiki was worried about Sam, there would be hell or something like that. Even though I didn't know much about these brothers, I knew they had one another's backs no matter what the situation.

"Nothing really. Came across a girl named Meg when we were hitch hiking and never saw her again until just about now. I don't know. Something's not right about her. Sam doesn't seem to sense anything, but I've got a really bad feeling or something about her," she replied.

"Well, can't you keep him away from her?" I asked. I knew Kiki's feelings were never usually wrong and by the tone in her voice about this girl, I knew something was wrong as well.

"What would you like me to tell him? That the girl may be evil or something?" she asked with sarcasm.

"I don't know. I was just making a suggestion," I snapped, causing her to sigh.

"I know and I'm sorry. It's just I'm worried about him. That's all," she said, causing me to sigh as well. We weren't use to being apart like this and it was kind of eating at us since we were with two guys we really didn't know.

"I understand. Look, Dean's coming back to the car. I'll call you when we've done what we've had to do," I said before I quickly hung up as Dean leaned in the window of the passenger side. I gave him a look and he merely raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Couple having car trouble. They're inside eating," he replied, causing me to give him a look.

"And that's something strange?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Were you not listening when Sam and I had been going over this earlier in the car?" he asked.

"I don't like to listen to somebody run their mouth like yourself. I tuned myself out until you pair of idiots started arguing. What's with the couple thing?" I asked, causing him to growl in frustration.

"Couples have gone missing in the last three years or so. Always passing through this part of Indiana. I saw the same tattoo on the scarecrow as the guy and now there is a couple here…."

"You think the town might give the couple to the scarecrow?" I asked in confusion, causing him to sigh in frustration.

"You know something. Just forget it. I'm going inside to see if I can figure anything out with what Emily told me. You coming?" he asked, causing me to just roll my eyes before getting out of the Impala and following behind him. Entering Scotty's Café, I saw a couple having a meal as Dean spoke to Scotty.

"Hiya Scotty. Can I get a coffee, black? And she'll have a uh…."

"Just a glass of water would be nice," I said, finishing off Dean's sentence as Scotty gave us a look before proceeding to fill our order.

"Oh! And some of that pie too. Passing through?" he asked as he spoke to Scotty and then spoke to the couple as we sat the counter next to the table they were eating at.

"Road trip," the woman replied with a smile before putting some food into her mouth.

"Yeah. Us too," he said as he took my hand with a slight smirk that only I could see, causing me to pull my hand back and elbow him in the gut. He gave me a dirty look but kept his attention turned toward the couple.

"She doesn't seem happy about it," the man said as he gave me a look.

"Nah. She's alright. She's just upset because I won't let her drive. Nothing a little loving won't fix later on," he said with a smirk flashed in my direction, causing my eyes to narrow into slits. How dare him. Can he get any sicker?

"I'm sure these nice people would like to eat in peace," Scotty said as he came from behind the counter and filled up the couple's glasses.

"Yes, Dean. Leave them alone. God knows we don't need anymore trouble," I said, causing Dean to give me a dirty look before proceeding to speak with the couple. I merely rolled my eyes and turned toward the counter where Scotty was placing my glass of water and piece of apple pie down onto the counter with Dean's cup of coffee.

"Thank you. Looks absolutely delicious," I said as I stole the fork and took a bit of the pie. It was actually really, really good.

"I suggest you keep your boyfriend on a leash and leave the couple alone in peace before there's trouble," he said.

"Trust me. I try," I said before he walked away. Taking another bite of the apple pie, I turned my attention to Dean as he continued to talk to the couple, who I could tell were getting very frustrated with him.

"Dean, I think you should just leave them alone. Obviously they would like you to leave them alone," I said as I poked him in the side of the face with the fork.

"I'm just trying to….Are you eating my apple pie?" he asked as he noticed about half the apple pie gone from the plate. I merely gave him a smirk and took another bite to prove to him that I had indeed eaten his apple pie. He gave me a scowl and was about to say something when he turned his head toward the door and I saw the a police officer out of the corner of my eye.

"Great," I muttered, placing the fork down on the plate as the police officer came toward us. Dean gave me a look and began to speak to the officer as I drained my glass of water and headed outside. I was joined shortly by Dean as he gave me a dirty look.

"You're so dead when this is over," he snarled as he started toward the Impala. I rolled my eyes and followed after him. This should be fun.

* * *

"Are you really this fucking stupid?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you really stupid to the fact that this thing might be killing people?"

"What the hell are you talking about? We just got kicked out of the stupid town because you refused to keep your bloody mouth shut. How am I stupid?" I asked, giving Dean a dirty look before turning to see the cop that had been following us out turn around just outside the city limits.

"I'm asking the questions because that scarecrow has something to do with those couples disappearing. How the hell do you explain it wearing the exact same tattoo as the guy in the picture that went missing?" he asked.

"I don't know. So you think the scarecrow has something to do with it? What about the bloody townspeople?" I asked as I gave him a look.

"I think something is up. And are you really English?" he asked as he looked over at me.

"Oi! What the hell do you think? That I have an accent for no apparent reason? My mother was from London and I spent most of my childhood until I was about 13 there. That's when I picked up this supernatural stuff. So what's the plan, Einstein?" I asked.

"We go back under the cover of darkness. We have to stop the couple from being skinned. Or something along those lines," he replied, causing me to gag.

"Skinned? What kind of nut job skins people?" I asked.

"Apparently the scarecrow you have deemed creepy and hangs out in the apple orchard, this towns prized piece of land. Did you enjoy the apple pie?" he asked, causing me to give him a smirk.

"It was enjoyable. Too bad you didn't get a piece," I replied, causing him to scowl.

"You know you're a bitch, right?" he asked, causing me to chuckle.

"You're not the first man to tell me that. So what is it that we really need to do? You are saving that the scarecrow has something to do with couples. Is it eating them after skinning them? Or is it just skinning them and such? And if it is the scarecrow as you're suggesting, what would that have to do with the townspeople? You think they might be offering couples to the scarecrow?" I asked, causing him to shrug.

"Something along those lines. But we definitely need to get back there tonight. The couple is setting out at dusk and the orchard is about a mile from where ever it is from the center of town," he replied as he pulled off to the side of the road and got out. Getting out as well, I watched as he unlocked the trunk and took out a shot gun.

"Do you think a spirit might be possessing the scarecrow?" I asked as he began loading the shot gun with rock salt.

"Could be. But I'm not exactly waiting around to find out," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes before shuffling through my duffle bag of weapons and pulling out a shot gun that I stuck in the backside of jeans. As I grabbed another one, I sensed Dean watching me and I looked up at him to find him with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I asked.

"It amazes me that you're so tiny and you are handling guns like there is no problem. Are you sure you're a woman?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes as I loaded another handgun and looked at him.

"Let's just say that I can store certain things in certain places you wouldn't dare touch if you don't want your prized jewels blown off or a bullet to the head. And stop looking at me like that. I prefer the handguns over that thing. Bruises don't look good on me from the damn shot gun," I said, causing him to roll his eyes and shut the trunk of the Impala.

"Come on. We've got a few hours before darkness comes. You can drink, right?" he asked with a slight smirk as we got back into the car. I gave him a glare that caused him to smirk even more.

"I don't think drinking is really appropriate at this time, Dean. And I'm 21. Are you really thick headed?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes and start up the Impala. This was going to be a long couple of hours.

* * *

"Don't worry about it. I've got your friend Kiki's friend to help me. We can take care of ourselves." I shifted my eyes open slightly as I heard Dean's voice and turned my head just slightly to see that Dean was talking on his cell phone. From the sound of it, it was Sam. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I groaned at the slight pain my eyes were having from falling asleep. At least I think I fell asleep. The last thing I remembered was shooting the creepy scarecrow and getting the couple out of the orchard.

"Call me when you find dad." Hanging up his cell phone, Dean looked over at me and smirked.

"Enjoy your sleep?" he asked.

"If you call my eyes hurting enjoyable, then sure. Where's my bag?" I asked, causing him to jerk his thumb behind me to indicate the backseat. Looking in the backseat, I grabbed my bag and pulled out my glasses. Taking my contacts out and putting my glasses on, I blinked and shook my head as my eye sight began to refocus.

"You going to be able to hunt in those?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"Don't know until I try. Usually avoid it. But I really don't have any choice since my contacts were killing me. I'm blind as a bat without either of them. Where we headed?" I asked.

"I'm heading off to see if I can't figure out about the damn scarecrow. We've got to find a way to stop it before this town continues to feed it couples for the next several years," he replied.

"Drop me off at the library if they've got one," I said, causing him to give me a weird look.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Obviously this town doesn't like you all that much. Hint, hint with the driving you out of town yesterday for not keeping your damn nose out of their bloody business with the damn couple. We've got to separate in case something happens. One is going to have to save the other and personally? I'm looking forward to saving your ass if you get caught so that I have something to hang over your head for the rest of my life," I replied with a snicker as he gave me a death glare.

"When this is all over, I'm going to fucking kill you and burn your body so that not even your friend can identify you," he said, causing me to smirk.

"I may be younger than you and about a foot or more shorter than you, but I can seriously take you out. Don't ever underestimate your competition," I said, causing him to roll his eyes as he pulled the Impala over in front of what I think was the library.

"I really hate you, you know that?" he asked as I got out. Shutting the door and leaning against the window, I simply smirked before speaking.

"That's ok. It makes for good television in later years. See you in a few hours," I said before I headed up the stairs and into the library. Grabbing a nearby table, I pulled out Kiki's laptop and turned it on. As it loaded up, I quickly scanned the shelves for a supernatural book that people found amusing to read and threw it on the table. Flipping through the book, I tried to find anything that would be tied to the scarecrow we had shot at last night. Something had to be controlling it and I wasn't sure if it was really a spirit or not. This was probably the hardest case I had ever worked on since I didn't have Kiki with me and I must have been sitting there for hours because I didn't even hear my cell phone go off until somebody touched my shoulder to let me know, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.

"Sorry. Hello?" I asked as I flipped open my cell phone.

"Artemis, have you spoken to Dean lately?"

"No. Why? Kiki, what's the matter?" I asked as I heard my friend's voice.

"I assume you know Dean called Sam earlier today and Sam has been trying to get a hold of Dean for the last hour or so. He's not answering his cell," she replied.

"I haven't spoken to Dean in a few hours. I've been doing some research here at the library. He went off somewhere to see if he could talk to someone in the town about the scarecrow. Turns out the scarecrow comes to life at night," I said as I closed the laptop and put it into my shoulder bag.

"I know. That's what Sam said when he told me what Dean said. We're on our way to you guys now. Sam's not going to California. I think he thinks his brother really needs him. We should be there in a couple of hours. Hopefully," she said.

"Alright. I'll try to find Dean. Hopefully he hasn't gotten himself into too much trouble," I said before I hung up and headed out of the library. Lucky for me, it had started to rain heavily. Note my sarcasm please. Pulling the hood of my jacket over my head, I hurried through the town to see if I could find someone who had seen Dean. However, I caught sight of a few umbrellas behind the general store we had first come upon the other day, causing me to creep slowly along the side of the building to see if I could eavesdrop somehow.

"You do understand, Harley? We have a responsibility to protect this town." I cocked my head and gasped slightly as I recognized the couple from the general store, the cop, and the guy from the café standing together talking.

"You don't think I understand? I understand better than everyone. I'm the one that gives them the directions. I'm the one that sends them down to the orchard," the older guy said, causing me to sigh. I knew I was right. The townspeople did have something to do with the scarecrow.

"Harley, please," the cop said.

"We all pretend that we don't know, we look the other way, and pretend we don't hear the screams. But this….this is different. This is murder," he said.

"It's already angry with us. The trees are already beginning to die. Tonight's the seventh night of the cycle. It's our last chance," the woman said, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Last chance to kill off a couple?

"If the boy has to die, the boy has to die. But why does it have to be her?" he asked as he looked around at the other three. My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. They were going to offer Dean to the scarecrow and some girl. Probably their niece or something Dean had been talking to earlier. Quietly moving away from the building, I bolted across the street and looked around for a safe place to use my cell phone. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Impala sitting down the street and knew that Dean would never just leave it there. Quickly hurrying toward it, I was grateful the prick hadn't locked the doors and slid into the driver's seat.

"Keys, keys, keys. Come on. I hope you're not stupid, Dean. Yes!" I exclaimed as I found them stashed down at the bottom of his bag in the bag seat. Worried about questioning him later, I situated myself to be able to drive before starting it up and calling Kiki.

"Hello?"

"Put Sam on," I said. There was a slight shuffle before I heard Sam's voice.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Sam, how far are you from Burkitsville?" I asked.

"A few hours. Why? Is something wrong? Where's Dean?" he asked.

"He's been captured by the townspeople. They're going to offer him and I think the niece of the general store couple to the fucking scarecrow tonight. Dean and I tried to kill it last night, but it wouldn't go down. I don't think it's a spirit that's controlling the damn thing," I replied.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I overheard the townspeople talking and the woman said something about it being angry with them or something. Also something about tonight being the last cycle or something. What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

"Hang on. What?" he asked as I knew he was talking to Kiki. I heard them converse for a few seconds before he came back on.

"Kiki thinks it might be a Vanir," he replied.

"A what?" I asked.

"A Vanir. Dean thinks it is a pagan god and I think it might be right. Kiki says a Vanir is something like a god that people worship for good crops or something. It just depends on what people use them for. Apparently this town uses it to keep their town alive. Look. Try to find Dean and we'll get there as quick as possible," he replied, causing me to sigh.

"Alright," I said before hanging up. Throwing my cell phone into my bag, I put the Impala into drive and started pulling away from the town. Looking into the mirror, I could see the four people from earlier heading off in a direction and I knew they were going to be getting Dean and the girl to take them to the orchard.

"You so owe me for saving your life, Dean," I muttered as I headed toward the orchard. This was going to be really fun. Creepy scarecrow and apples. Oh yes. Really fun.

* * *

Shutting the Impala off just outside the orchard, I grabbed my gun and quickly got out of the car to head into the orchard. I could see that the scarecrow was still kind of tied up way down toward the other end, but that wouldn't be for long as it would come alive to skin both Dean and the girl alive. Quickly making my way through the orchard, I could hear the girl starting to panic and I made my way toward her voice as I saw Dean starting to struggled against the tree.

"Miss me, sexy?" I asked as I dropped down next to him, causing him to give me a look of surprise before his eyes narrowed.

"A hell of a lot," he replied, sarcasm dripping off his tongue.

"I'm going to be holding this over you for a while. I'm assuming you got caught by the sheriff or something while looking into this whole Vanir thing?" I asked as I stuck my gun into the back of my jeans and looked at him.

"Just get me down from here, would ya? And keep your eyes open for that scarecrow," he snapped as I worked at getting his hands untied. I gave him a look and then looked behind me to the post where the scarecrow was. Or was suppose to be.

"Uh…Dean? What scarecrow?" I asked, causing him to look in the direction of the scarecrow post. The snapping of twigs caught our attention and the girl was starting to freak out, causing me to draw my gun.

"Dean? Artemis?"

"Sam?" Dean asked, causing me to breath a sigh of relief as I saw both Sam and Kiki running toward us.

"It's about time you got here. We've got to get out of here. The scarecrow is loose," I said as I quickly pocketed my gun and untied the girl.

"What scarecrow?" Kiki asked, causing Dean to shake his head.

"Don't worry about it. We've got to get out of here since he's down. How the hell did you two get here anyways?" he asked as he looked at Sam.

"I uh…I stole a car," Sam replied, causing my eyes to widen and Dean to laugh.

"That's my boy," he said.

"Alright. Thank him later. Let's get out of here before that fucking scarecrow skins us all alive," I said, motioning toward the girl to follow us as we started to hurry along the orchard.

"Alright. This sacred tree you're talking about, if it's its source of power, let's find it and burn it," Sam said.

"In the morning. Let's just shag ass and get out of here before Leatherface shows up," Dean said as I nodded in agreement. However, we skidded to a stop when a light shown on us and I heard a gun being cocked. Turning my head, I saw the general store owners standing there.

"This way," Dean said, touching my arm as he turned around. But it was no use as we were completely surrounded by townspeople with guns. I really wasn't liking this as an eerie type of groan echoed through the orchard and I subconsciously stepped toward Dean as he looked for a way out.

"Please. Please let us go," the girl said as she pleaded with the couple.

"It'll be over soon. I promise. Emily, I promise it will be over…." But the man stopped talking as something sliced through his heart, causing me to stifle a scream as I grabbed onto Dean as he was the closest to me. I had been hunting the supernatural for years, but I was still a girl. Stuff like that was really sickening to me. The scarecrow, even more fucking creepy alive, started hauling the man and the woman off into the orchard, causing the five of us to take off toward the entrance of the orchard. Turning back, I saw that there was no sign of the scarecrow anywhere in the orchard.

"We are so lighting that tree on fire," Dean said, causing me to nod in agreement. Creepy scarecrow once was enough for me.

* * *

"You think she's going to be alright?"

"I hope so."

"And we're just going to let the rest of townspeople get away with it?"

"What will happen to the town will have to be punishment enough. They don't have the Vanir to grow their crops for them anymore," Kiki said as I nodded in agreement. I would hate to be the townspeople, but they would need to find a better way to do things now that the scarecrow was dead for good. We had found the tree and Emily, apparently it was the girl's name, set it on fire before leaving on a bus here at the bus station.

"So, can I drop you off somewhere?" Dean asked, bringing me out of my thoughts as he spoke to Sam.

"No. I think you're stuck with me," he replied, causing Kiki to chuckle. I gave her a smile and merely shook my head as the two brothers looked at us.

"We're going to have to get these girls off on their feet again. This little side adventure stopped us from doing so," Dean said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"You should be grateful. I saved your ass from being eaten by scarecrow. Or well skinned. You would have been dead meat," I said, causing him to roll his eyes.

"She's got a point, Dean. Besides, they really do know how to kick ass. And Kiki's a great girl. Good with the research. Appears to me that Artemis is more or less like you. Could be helpful," Sam said, causing both Dean and I to look at one another in shock.

"You're kidding me, right?" Dean asked as he looked at his brother.

"Not really. Kiki and I were talking about it on our way up here. Might as well let them join. It would probably be a lot more fun," he replied with a shrug, causing Dean to groan.

"So you're telling me that I'm going to be stuck with this little bitch for the rest of our little road trip?" he asked as he pointed to me.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's not like you're the only one unhappy about this ordeal. I should have just left you to be eaten by the scarecrow," I said as my eyes narrowed.

"Whatever you two. We're sticking with the guys. Get in the car," Kiki said as Sam let her in the car. I groaned and threw myself into the backseat next to her as Sam and Dean got into the car.

"This should be fun. Oh. And for a reference, princess. The next time you drive my car, I'm going to kill you," Dean said as he looked back at me. I gave him a confused look before my eyes widened in recognition of what he was talking about.

"Hey! It saved your ass, didn't it?" I asked, causing him to roll my eyes.

"Whatever. Just remember what I said," he replied as he started the car and headed out onto the road. I merely rolled my eyes and pulled out my iPod. As the music floated into my ears, I sighed. This was going to be one hell of a trip and I knew that Dean was definitely not going to make it any easier on me. It was definitely going to be a hell of a ride.


	4. Chapter 3: Faith

**Disclaimer:**I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

**Author's Note: **Hey guys. I just thought I would toss a slight note your way so that you won't be confused from this chapter on. Working with the episode "Faith" and on, if you've seen the show, there will be slight alterations to the episode (chapter) to fit around the characters of Artemis and Kiki. So be warned that if something does not seem right in the episode, it is only to make the characters of the story become stronger and for the storyline to come further to light. Also, starting with chapter 4 (Route 666), the story will continue in Artemis' POV as well as Dean's POV as the story will become more intense with continuation of their journey and the beginning folds of Artemis' secret toward the end of this chapter. Continue to enjoy!

* * *

**Faith**

"So tell me again why we had to stay behind and the guys got to go out and hunt this thing?"

"Because Dean and Sam think it's really dangerous for us. Dean was talking 10,000 volts or something to fry the thing they're after. I know you're pissed about not being able to go, but I think Dean tossing you into that really disgusting lake behind here was worth you not going. You know I wouldn't be able to hunt on my own," Kiki said as I toweled out my hair from the shower I had just taken. What she said about Dean was true. I had protested about going on the hunt they were on now and Dean had easily picked me up like I was some raggedy Ann doll or something and tossed me into the lake behind the motel we were staying in. I was pissed. He had something coming to him when he got back.

"But still. I'm 21 and I'm not their sister or something. I'm just a good a hunter as they are. You too. Just because we're girls doesn't mean that we can't hunt just as good as them. Has he forgotten who saved his ass back in Indiana with that bloody scarecrow?" I asked as I brushed out my hair and put on my glasses before sitting down on the bed I was sharing with Kiki. For some odd reason we were sharing a hotel room with the guys. I had argued against it at first because I really didn't need to spend anymore time with Dean than I already did, but the argument had been about saving money with Kiki. Sure I had a couple hundred dollars. Or maybe a million. Or more. I knew that the story was a lie to Sam and Dean about wanting to save money since we had more than enough with me being a millionaire, but whatever Kiki was thinking, she wasn't telling me. And for once I was happy about it because I didn't want to end up on the wrong end of the stick if Sam and Dean were to find out the truth. Not that it was a big deal because it wasn't. It was minor to what was really behind that story.

"I doubt he has forgotten it since you bring it up every time you corner him for something and you two start fighting. But I agree with them for once. Artemis, whatever they were going to fry is something that could seriously hurt us. For once in your life be grateful that someone is looking out for you other than me," she said, causing me to narrow my eyes. I hated when she brought that up and she knew it. Even though Kiki was on the more reserved side when it came to me, she knew what to say to shut me up and that was just it. And I hated it.

"Whatever. Have you found something on the computer about what we could possibly go after the guys get back from their hunt? God knows I really don't want to be chasing coordinates from an invisible person for the rest of my time," I said, causing her to toss me her laptop.

"Not really. Maybe you can find something. You're usually good with knowing what to look for," she replied as she sat at the table and started writing in a notebook. It was true. When it came to looking things up, I was usually able to find things in about a five minute time span, but I usually left Kiki up to doing the rest once I found something. Researching and planning just weren't in my vocabulary for the most part. I was all for the action and such that sometimes it got me into more trouble than I actually wanted.

"Hello? Sam? What's wrong?" I looked up from the computer as I heard Kiki answer her cell phone, but the sound of her voice put chills down my spine. I knew it was Sam and by the sounds of it, something was wrong.

"What? Oh my god. Is he ok?" she asked, causing me to give her a look. By the sounds of it, something had happened to Dean and by the way she was rapidly conversing with Sam, it was something serious.

"How the hell do you expect us to get there, Sam? You guys have the Impala!" she yelled, causing me to nearly fall off the bed in shock. Kiki never yelled like that unless she was severely pissed off to no end. And she was pissed with Sam for whatever he had said to her.

"Alright. We'll see you in a few minutes," she said before hanging up.

"What was that about? What's going on?" I asked as she got up and slipped on her shoes.

"Dean's hurt. Sam wouldn't go into detail about it since there were cops around in the hospital where they're at, but more than likely it has to do with the hunt. Sam should be here shortly to get us," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why do we have to go?" I asked, causing her to look at me in disbelief.

"Artemis, sometimes I really wished you kept your mouth shut. Dean's been hurt. I know you don't like him, but the least you can do is to go," she replied, shaking her head as she headed toward the bathroom. I gave a frustrated sigh and looked around for my duffle bag to get out a pair of shoes. When Dean tossed me in the lake, my favorite converses had become wet and now I would need a different pair to wear until my others would dry. It was a good thing I carried an extra black pair with me in cases like these. Slipping them on, I grabbed my black jacket and pulled it on over my night outfit. I really didn't feel like changing into other clothing when Sam was going to be there for any minute, so I was quite content with going in my short shorts and jacket over my tank top. As if right on cue, I heard a honk from outside and opened the door to see the Impala sitting right out front.

"Come on, Kiki!" I yelled as I walked to the Impala and got into the backseat.

"You're going dressed like that?" he asked as he gave me a look.

"Shut up and drive. I didn't feel like changing," I growled as Kiki got into the car and Sam started off. He gave me a look through the rearview mirror, but didn't say anything to me with the glare I was giving him. I so wasn't in the mood to deal with this, but of course, I had no choice. I pretty much ignored Sam and Kiki on the way to the hospital and the second we got there, I stalked off down the hall, ignoring Sam's yell at for me to stop. If they wanted me to visit Dean, I was going to visit Dean and get it over with. A doctor had come out of a room and was heading down the hall toward the way I had come, causing me to stop and watch as he talked to Sam. Seeing the look on Sam's face, I knew that Dean was definitely in the room. Peering inside, I was right as I saw Dean laying in the hospital bed with the most bored look on his face.

"So let me guess. Some big ol' monster tried to eat you," I said as I entered the room, causing him to look up at me with a surprised expression, but it turned into a smirk as he looked me up and down. I merely rolled my eyes and flipped him off.

"What? It's not my fault you show up in my hospital room in really short shorts. You may be really annoying and a real bitch, but you've got great body structure. Cute ass for someone as tiny as you. But I could definitely do without the jacket. You've probably got great assets, which I know you do with the outfits you wear hunting," he said, his smirk widening as my eyes narrowed.

"Please tell me they've got you drugged up," I said, causing him to let out a laugh.

"Sorry, princess. It's all Dean," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Sam called Kiki in a frantic panic and I didn't feel like changing. If I had known you were going to be talking like this, I would have definitely changed before hand," I said, causing him to snicker.

"Chill out, princess. I can't believe you don't take some guy complimenting you as a good thing. Hell. If I didn't hate you, I would so jump you. Especially if I wasn't in this hospital bed all banged up to fucking hell. Lighten up some. You should probably go find a guy to screw to let go of that frustration you have built up," he said, causing me to give a scream of frustration before storming from the room, nearly knocking down Sam in the process.

"Whoa! What the hell, Artemis?" he asked.

"Your brother is the what's the fucking matter. I don't care if he's on his fucking death bed dying of some unknown disease. I will not stand for him talking to me like I'm some girl he's trying to pick up from a bar," I snapped as I shoved him out of my way.

"Artemis, he's very ill. He took 100,000 volts to his heart taking down that demon. Doctors say he may not recover," Kiki hissed, causing me to turn and look at her.

"I don't fucking care. He can die for all I care. I'll wait in the Impala," I snapped before I stormed away from them and outside where the Impala was sitting in the parking lot. The nerve of him. I couldn't believe him.

"I'm going to fucking throw him off the next bridge we come to if I don't fucking kill him the next time I see him," I growled as I kicked the side of the Impala, leaving quite a bit of a dent. Staring at it, I knew Dean was going to kill me and the funny thing was, I just started laughing. I don't know why. I just started laughing. Oh god. What was this guy doing to me?

* * *

"Sam, were going to do whatever it takes to try and make your brother better. There has to be some way."

"I've looked, Kiki. I'm trying."

"I know you are. We're going to find a way."

"Will you two just give it up already? You've been searching like hell for a way to fix the bastard and you haven't found a way yet. Give it up. The bastard should die anyways," I said as I looked up from the sketch book I was drawing in. Sam and Kiki stopped talking to look at me with dirty looks.

"Artemis, you're a fucking bitch, you know that? My brother's going to maybe die in a month or less and you're just being a bitch," Sam snapped, causing me to shrug.

"I've been told. And I really don't care. You're brother is a jerk and I don't care what happens to him. And get the door," I said as the sound of knocking came. He gave me another dirty look as he got up and I merely shrugged as I went back to my sketch book. I had a small passion for drawing and usually helped calm me down when I was in a foul mood.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I checked myself out." My head snapped up as I saw Dean slowly bring himself into the hotel room. What the hell?

"I figured I wasn't going to die in a hospital where the nurses aren't even hot," he said, causing Sam to scoff and shake his head.

"You know something? This "I laugh in the face of death" thing? I can see right through it. It's bullshit," Sam said as he shut the door and Dean let out a short laugh.

"Yeah. Whatever, dude. You sleep ok? You look worse than me," he said as he walked toward the empty chair next to Kiki. He slowly sat down as his brother rambled on about various things, causing him to roll his eyes just slightly before they landed on me where I was stretched out along one of the beds staring at him with a look of hatred. He suddenly let out a laugh and smirked.

"Aw. Did you miss me, princess?" he asked, causing me to hurl a pillow in his direction. Sam, having sat on the other bed near Dean, saw my intention and caught the pillow before it could hit his brother.

"Artemis," he growled, causing me to roll my eyes.

"It's alright, Sammy. Princess throws like a girl anyways. So tell me, princess. Like what you see even though I'm banged up as hell?" Dean asked, causing me to sit up quickly and growl.

"Shut the fuck up, Winchester," I snarled.

"Nah. You're cute when you're angry. It's the least I can do to annoy you since you put a dent in my car," he said, causing both Kiki and Sam to look at one another. I could tell that wheels were turning in their heads since they didn't even have a clue what he was talking about.

"A dent? In your beloved car? And you blame me?" I asked as I gave him a look of stupidity that I normally gave to Kiki when I tried to get out of something.

"You hate me enough. And the dent isn't as big or great as it would be if Sam or Kiki were to hit it. And I certainly wouldn't leave a dent or even a scratch on the Impala. So yes. I blame you," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Just because it's a tiny dent doesn't mean I did it. You know that people have kids here in the motel lot or whatnot. Anyone of them could have done it. So nice try," I said.

"Nice try my ass. I know you put that dent in my car and you will pay dearly for it," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I am not frightened of you, Dean. You're threats mean nothing to me," I said, causing him to raise an eyebrow as if challenging me.

"Oh really? You sure about that?" he asked.

"You look like you were dragged through hell. I'm sure about it. And if you get the chance, you can go back to hell and die for all I care," I replied, causing him to smirk.

"Hell huh? Well I'm sure it would be nice since you belong there just as much as I do. And since hell is really, really hot, you can wear those sexy shorts you were wearing last night while we're down there. At least I wouldn't be bored out of my mind if you get my drift," he said, causing me to give him a look of shock before my eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"Why you…" But I didn't even finish that sentence as I was quick to lunge at him. However, Sam was quick on his feet and caught me before I could even touch his brother.

"I'm going to kill him!" I yelled as I tried to get out of Sam's grip. I had to admit, although I was quite the fighter and could take anyone of Sam's or Dean's stature, Sam definitely had some strength behind him. Despite my efforts to try and get to Dean, I found myself go sprawling across the room as Kiki stood up, shaking her head.

"She's not going to stop until she's gotten her hands on him, Sam. Shut your god damn brother up if you really want him to live. And Artemis, stop this nonsense. I can't believe you're letting a guy get under your skin like this. I know Dean's a fucking prick, but ignore him until we can get him fixed. Then take your crack at him. He's no fun when he's all screwed up," Kiki said as she poked Dean in the side before giving me a look.

"Yeah…Hey! Wait a minute!" Dean exclaimed as it a second for her words to sink into his mind and to look at her as if she had lost her mind. I rolled my eyes as I quickly got to my feet and rubbed my lower back where I had landed kind of hard before looking over at Kiki.

"You can have a crack at him once he's able to defend himself. It's rather pathetic when a guy can't defend himself against a girl. So yeah. You can have a crack at him later," she said, causing me to shrug as throw myself back onto the bed.

"Look you two. I called a bunch of dad's friends and I finally got a call back today from a guy named Joshua. He seems to know of a guy in Nebraska. A specialist," Sam said as he gave his brother a look.

"You're not going to let me die in peace, are you?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes. Typical Dean.

"I'm not going to let you die period. We're going," Sam replied, causing me to scoff.

"If I were you I would just let the bastard die. Lord knows what he would do if he were to still be alive in a month's time. I'm surprised he's still alive and kicking since he got himself fried with 100,000 volts," I said, causing Dean to roll his eyes.

"Thanks princess. Love you too," he said, causing me to gag and throw a pillow at him. This time Sam just let it fly by and it hit Dean square in the face. He gave me a glare and I merely flipped him off before throwing myself backwards at the top of the bed. I hated Dean Winchester. Seriously. I hated him with pure hatred. He needed to rot in hell for the rest of his life and afterlife if you asked me. And that was a long, long, long time.

* * *

"You're a lying bastard, you know that? I thought you said we were going to see a doctor?" I gave Kiki a look as we watched Sam help, or well try to help, Dean out of the Impala. She merely gave me a shrug and looked at Sam as he spoke to his brother.

"I believe I said a specialist. Dean, this guy is suppose to be the real deal," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I can't believe you brought me here to see a man that heals people inside a tent," Dean said, causing me to snicker. Dean gave me a dirty look, causing me to smirk. I was enjoying the temper tantrum Dean seemed to be going into and the more he got annoyed with it, the more entertained I seemed to get.

"Reverend Le Grange is a great man," a woman said as she passed by us, causing me to swear under my breath. Kiki, being the closest to me, elbowed me in the side and hissed at me to shut up. I gave her a dirty look and a roll of my eyes as we proceeded to the tent, passing a protesting man outside the tent as we went.

"I'm taking it that he's not a part of the flock," Dean said, causing me to scoff.

"Way to go, Einstein. Next you'll be telling us that the moon was made of cheese or some other bullshit idea like that," I said, causing him to give me a dirty look. I simply rolled my eyes and walked to the entrance of the tent and peered inside. Several people were going into the tent and it was a wide variety. A lot of the people were more elderly, but there were some that were a bit older than me. Actually, I think I was probably the youngest out of all of them.

"God does not appreciate such a dark gesture." I broke out of my thoughts and looked up as some woman stood before the tent entrance and looked at me with a disapproving look on her face.

"Come again?" I asked.

"This is a church. A healing church for those that need to be healed. Too much darkness is a negativity to such a miracle. The Lord does not appreciate the work of Satan in his home," she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow. What in hell was she talking about?

"Look. I'm not here to do anything to ruin your little "God gives miracles" service. And I'm certainly not here to, as you put it, do the work of Satan in the Lord's house. I'm here because a friend's brother is sick and he thinks the reverend can heal him, which I think is a crock of shit. To me, the Lord does not exist, so you're preaching to the wrong person. So I suggest you take your words to someone who really cares and leave me the hell alone before I personally send you on a one way trip there myself," I said, causing her eyes to widen as I gave her a look. She gave a huff and went back inside the tent as I shook my head and went back over to where Sam, Kiki, and Dean were standing.

"What's the matter, princess? Lady scare you?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"No. I was telling her off. She was trying to preach to me or something. Said that I was trying to do the work of Satan in the Lord's house. Told her where to go," I replied, causing Kiki to sigh in annoyance.

"Artemis…."

"What? I agree with Dean for once. This is a crock of shit. Come on, Kiki. A faith healer? You can't be totally serious," I said as I gave her a look.

"Sorry, princess. But we are serious," Dean said, causing me to give him a dirty look and a suspicious look.

"Who the hell are you? Oh wait. Let me guess. Some chick just passed by and you're now totally devoted to God?" I asked.

"Come on, princess. You know me better than that. You know I've only got eyes for you," he replied with a smirk, causing me to gag and give Sam a look. He merely sighed and shake his head.

"Just ignore it, Artemis. And she probably thinks you're here with Satan because of what you're wearing," he said, causing me to look down at myself. I was wearing a short black flared out skirt, a black jacket over my black tank top and my black converses. Personally, I really didn't see anything wrong with it.

"Everything from head to toe on you is black. Your fingernails and eyeliner included. That's probably why she thinks that," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Well excuse me. I wasn't expecting to be brought to a bloody fucking church service held outside in a tent in order to cure your sick prick of a brother, Sam. God you people drive me insane sometimes," I snapped, causing Kiki to roll her eyes as Dean snickered. It was true. I was really on edge with every single one of them. Especially Dean.

"Whatever. Come on. Let's get inside," Sam said, shaking his head as he and Kiki led Dean inside. Sighing, I knew I really didn't have a choice to follow them and went inside to find them starting to sit down toward the front. Giving a muttered curse, I walked past the group of people already sitting down, which a lot were staring at me with a look of horror that I ignored, and sat down between Sam and Dean. I knew Sam did it on purpose and from the look in my eyes, he knew he was in for it later.

"Each morning my wife Sue-Ann reads me the news. Never seems good, does it?" I looked up as a man wearing sunglasses started to address the tent as several people in the tent answered "no" to his question.

"Seems like there is always someone committing an immoral, unspeakable act," he said, causing me to place my hand over my face and muttered a string of curses. I could not believe I was actually sitting in this tent right now listening to this. This had to be the lowest thing someone on the face of the planet could do to people with hard-earned money.

"Or into their wallets," Dean muttered, causing me to be brought out of my thoughts and give him a strange look. Did he just say what I was thinking?

"You think so, young man?" Ok. Maybe he was listening to this reverend guy speak since he was now speaking to Dean.

"Sorry," Dean said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Oh now you say sorry," I hissed, causing him to flick me in the leg.

"Shut up," he hissed before looking around him as people in the tent began to look at him in a bit of a disbelieving way.

"What's your name, son?" the man asked.

"Dean," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes. Please tell me he wasn't going to play into this.

"I want….I want you to come up here with me," the man said, causing the entire tent, minus the four of us, to start clapping and cheering as Dean just looked confused. What was going on? I could tell Dean didn't want to go up, and I didn't blame him, but the tent was encouraging him to as well as Sam. Sighing, he got up and made his way up to where the preacher and the lady I had the encounter with earlier stood.

"You ready?" the man asked.

"Uh….look. No disrespect, but I'm not exactly a believer," he said.

"You will be, son. You will be," the man said before he placed his hand on Dean's head and asked that everyone in the tent begin to pray with him. Something didn't feel right about this. Something just didn't feel right. As the time seemed to pass kind of slowly, I saw that Dean was beginning to lose his focus and it caused me to sit up straighter and more toward the end of my chair as he fell to his knees. Something was seriously wrong here. Something seriously did not feel right.

"Dean!" I exclaimed as he fell to the floor. Forgetting the fact that I hated him, I bolted out of my seat and to the stage where he lay in what I think was an unconscious state.

"Dean. Come on. Dean," I said as I lightly tapped the side of his face. I bit back a frightened gasp when he suddenly came back to it with a gasp, but let out a sign of relief as he kind of heaved in air into his lungs. However, the look in his eyes toward the reverend caused me to look over but see nothing. Dean never got that look in his eyes unless he saw something, but there was nothing there. Absolutely nothing.

* * *

"So he's ok?"

"Yeah. Doctor said he was fine. Said it was like nothing was wrong with his heart. Strange but he's ok. Why are you even asking? You wanted him to die. Remember?"

"Shut up, Kiki. Just because I wanted him to die doesn't mean I was expecting him to just fall to the ground like that. I do have some kind of heart. And if he's ok, then why is he freaking out or whatever?" I asked, looking up from the laptop to my best friend as she came out of the motel room bathroom after having a shower.

"He just doesn't feel right. Thinks something is wrong. He went to go talk to the reverend and his wife about what happened while Sam went to talk to the guy at the pool to make sense of what happened to the guy that died of the heart attack or something. Wanted to see if maybe there was a connection or something. Dean says he saw something when he woke up from the whole process," she replied, causing me to give her a strange look.

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah. My thoughts exactly. But you know Dean. Stubborn until he can't find a way out of what he's thinking or doing. I don't blame him. This whole thing has to be a shock or what….Sam? Is everything ok?" she asked as Sam suddenly opened the door and threw himself into a chair across from me. He merely ignored her and opened up his laptop, in which he started to type away.

"Sam?" I asked, causing him to give me a dark look.

"Shut it, Artemis," he growled, causing me to look up at Kiki with a shocked expression. Never had I heard Sam talk to me or anyone like that before. Sure I knew he could get pissed off, but never has he spoken to us like that before. Still completely puzzled, I let him be and continued what I was doing on the laptop until I heard the door open again and looked up to see Dean walking in.

"So? What did you find out?" he asked as he gave his brother a look. Sam sighed and refused to look up from the computer.

"What?" he asked.

"Marshall Hall died at 4:17 in the afternoon," Sam replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow. What did that have to do with anything?

"The same time I was healed," he said, causing me to look at Kiki, who shrugged. She was just as lost as I was.

"Right. So I checked everything and it seems like 6 people have been healed over the last year, which I cross-checked with the local orbits. It seems that every time someone was healed, someone else died. It seems that everyone that Le Grange has healed, someone died of the same symptoms or disease that the person that was healed had," Sam said.

"So let me get this straight. Someone who goes to see Le Grange and is healed from their disease passes it on to someone else?" I asked as I gave him a look of confusion.

"Yes. It seems that Le Grange is trading one life for another," he replied with a nod.

"So wait. Let me understand this. Marshall Hall died to save me?" Dean asked.

"Dean, he probably would have died anyway and someone else would have been healed," he said.

"You should have never brought me here," Dean said as he got up.

"Dean, I was just trying to save your life," he said.

"But someone is dead because of me," Dean snapped, causing me to slam down the laptop lid and stand up.

"You should be grateful that he even attempted to try and find a way to help you, Dean. If that was me, I would have just let you die because you're such a prick. And for bloody sakes! Sam didn't know this would happen. Do you honestly think your brother would do something like this just to save your life? If he knew it would be costing other people their lives? Are you really that fucking stupid?" I asked, causing him to whirl around and glare at me.

"Artemis…."

"Don't you two even start. Dean, she's right though. You should be grateful your brother tried to help you. But that's not the problem right now. The problem is that we don't know how Le Grange's is trading one life for another," Kiki said, standing up and placing herself between us. I gave her a glare but kept my mouth shut and my eyes narrowed at Dean. How could he be a selfish prick like that?

"He's not doing it," Dean said as he looked at his brother.

"What?" Sam asked as he looked at Dean in confusion.

"There's only one thing that can give and take life away. We're dealing with a…."

"Reaper," I finished for him, causing him to look back at me in surprise. I was surprised myself that I would say something like that, but I regained my emotionless expression and posture to speak.

"Come on, Kiki. Let's get to work," I said as I grabbed the laptop and headed outside the motel room.

"Artemis?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Kiki. I nearly screwed myself over in there. Let's just work to see if we can't figure what's going on. If we're dealing with a reaper and that's what Dean saw on stage when he woke up out of his trance, we need to find a way to stop it before it takes anymore lives," I said as I gave her a look.

"Artemis…"

"Please Kiki," I said as I gave her a look. She stared at me for a second before sighing and nodding. We sat down on the concrete outside and began to look through Kiki's laptop to see if we could find anything. I knew I had almost screwed up by saying what I did in front of Dean and Sam, but hopefully they would forget everything about it. Looking back at the motel room, I saw the curtain pulled back just slightly and as I tilted my head slightly, I could see Dean looking outside at us. Or I think me. I couldn't be too sure. Giving him a dirty look, he glared back and I flipped him off. This was so not going to get any better.

* * *

"We're going back to Le Grange's to see if we can't figure out how Roy's controlling this thing. Dean was right though. It is a reaper," Sam said as he and Dean made their way out of the motel room and stopped to look at us.

"So you think Le Grange is controlling it?" Kiki asked.

"Yeah. There are hundreds of tales about reapers and we're definitely not dealing with the typical Grim Reaper. No black robes just so you know. In order for Roy to heal someone, the reaper has to take a life to give a life. That's why Dean could see it and we couldn't," he replied with a nod.

"But that doesn't explain why he's choosing victims to take lives from," I said, causing Kiki to nod in agreement.

"Well that's what we're going to try and figure out. You girls coming?" he asked.

"I'm not. I've had enough preacher accusations to hold me over until death. You guys go on ahead and just ill me in when you come back," I replied as I stood up and straightened myself out. Kiki gave me a look but I merely shrugged her off and started heading back inside. However, Dean stopped me from doing so, causing me to give him a look.

"Have you ever seen a reaper, Artemis?" he asked as he lowed his voice so that Sam nor Kiki could hear him.

"No. Why?" I asked.

"Because for you to finish off my sentence like you did makes me wonder why you're lying to me about seeing a reaper," he replied, causing me to scoff.

"Whatever you say, Dean. Believe what you want. I haven't seen nor do I want to see a reaper. You should get going before Sam and Kiki think you're up to something by just talking to me," I said, causing him to give me a look before scoffing and heading off to his car.

"You're never going to get a guy acting the way you do," he said.

"Oh no! What shall I ever do," I said, giving him a mock gasp at the thought of what he said. He merely gave me a glare and flipped me off before getting into the Impala with Sam and Kiki and heading off toward the preacher's place. Shaking my head, I headed inside and shut the door before placing the laptop onto the table and grabbing my duffle bag to head into the bathroom to take a shower. All of the day's events and over the last few days was enough to really burn me to the ground. A shower was something that always seemed to cool my nerves and make me relaxed and ready for whatever would come later on. Finishing my shower, I dressed into a pair of shorts and a tank top before brushing out my hair and letting it air dry out. Just as I was about to wash my face, I heard my cell phone ring and I opened the door to grab it from the side table.

"Hello?" I asked as I went back into the bathroom, leaving the door open as I did so.

"So guess what me and Sam found in their library?" Kiki asked.

"Uh….a bunch of books?" I asked with sarcasm.

"No. Some kind of black book full of dark magic. It dates back to a really dark age where a preacher was using black magic or whatever. And it has pictures of people inside. The people that have died," she replied, ignoring my sarcasm as she went into an explanation.

"So let me get this straight. He's finding people that are immoral and kills them off to save someone who is good? Oh geez. So who is the guy sending the reaper after this time?" I asked.

"You remember the protestor?" she asked.

"Yeah. The one that was protesting outside the tent when we first took Dean to be healed or whatever. He's next?" I asked as I wiped off my face after splashing water on it.

"Apparently so. Sam's on his phone right now with Dean while we're outside the tent trying to find the protestor. Dean's inside hoping to stop Roy from healing Layla," she replied, causing me to chuckle. Shaking my head, I looked back up at the mirror and nearly dropped my phone in shock when I saw an elderly man on the far side of the motel room staring at me intently in the mirror.

"Kiki," I whispered as I looked out of the bathroom to see him standing there.

"Artemis? Is everything ok?" she asked as she picked up my tone.

"Tell Dean to hurry," I replied as I saw that the old man was gone and nearly jumped a foot when I whirled around to see him behind me.

"Artemis? Artemis, what's going on? Sam!" she yelled as I heard her calling for Sam. I practically moved backwards out of the bathroom as the old man started moving toward me with not an emotion on his face or anything.

"Kiki, please hurry!" I cried as I scrambled across one of the beds to put distance between myself and the reaper.

"Artemis, what's going on?" she asked.

"The reaper," I replied, causing her to swear when she realized what I was trying to say.

"Sam! Tell Dean to fucking hurry! The thing is with Artemis right now in the motel room! She's next!" she yelled as I turned around to try for the door, only to knock right into the old man himself. I let out a scream and let go of my cell phone, but it faded as I felt myself starting to have trouble breathing with his hand on my cheek. The sounds of Kiki screaming in the phone started to fade and I felt my world starting to go back as the lack of oxygen increased heavily. I felt my head hit the floor and I was gone.

* * *

"Come on, princess. Wake up. Sam, get me some water or something. Kiki, get a blanket or something. I've got a pulse but her body feels cold as ice. Ah come on, princess. You're no fun when you're dead." I could hear voices but I couldn't get my mind to focus properly to open my eyes. However, I felt myself gag and gasp for air when I felt a cold liquid rush past my lips and down my esophagus.

"That a girl. Come on. Open your eyes." Coughing for air, my eyes shifted open to see Dean looking down at me with worry written across his face. I was beyond confused. Shifting my eyes around, I saw that I was cradled in Dean's arms on the floor as Sam and Kiki stood around us. My cell phone lay close by, still open and I could hear the dial tone from it. I was way beyond confused at what was happening.

"Oh thank god. We thought you were a goner," Kiki said as Dean took the blanket from her and gently wrapped it around me while I stared at them in confusion.

"What happen?" I asked.

"You don't remember?" Dean asked as his brow ceased in slight worry.

"Not exactly. I just remember seeing…seeing…"

"The old man?" Kiki asked, causing me to nod as Sam sighed.

"Well it's a good thing Dean stopped it before it took your life," Sam said as I somewhat nodded.

"But why the hell did it want Artemis? You said it was the protestor the reaper was going after. Why the hell did it go after her?" Dean asked as he pulled me gently into a seating position and handed me the glass of water Sam had been holding. Staring at it for a what seemed like forever, it was gone in a split second as I downed it like I hadn't had anything to drink in years. Dean stared at me in surprise before chuckling and motioning for Sam to take the glass and fill it back up.

"We found her picture in the book we found in their library. Roy actually believes he's healing all these people. He doesn't know what his wife is doing behind his back. So, like you Dean, why did it go after Artemis?" Sam asked as he came back with the glass.

"Because Sue-Ann thought she was doing Satan's work. She thought she was immoral," Kiki replied with a sigh.

"What? How the bloody hell am I immoral?" I asked as I gave her a look.

"Clothes perhaps. Do you remember anything that you said to Sue-Ann the day I was healed?" Dean asked as he looked at me. Sue-Ann? Who the hell was Sue-Ann? Oh wait.

"The woman I told off that day?" I asked as I looked at Kiki, causing her to nod.

"So Sue-Ann is behind all of this. She must be binding the reaper. Making Roy believe he has the gift," Sam replied with a nod as Dean helped me off the floor and sat me on the bed before walking across the room to the table.

"I don't understand," I said.

"Her husband was dying. She was looking for a way to keep him from dying. So…."

"She binds the reaper and every time Roy saves a person, someone else dies," I said with a sigh as I ran a hand through my hair.

"Yes. So we must find a way to stop her," Kiki said.

"Does it say what to do when binding a reaper? Is there like any black altar or pendent that we can destroy to get rid of it if it is binded?" I asked as I looked at the guys.

"Probably both," Dean replied, causing me to nod. After what I had gone through, I was definitely ready to put a stop to the reaper. No doubt about it. About an hour later, the Impala pulled up outside the tent and I realized that whatever had happened today, it was happening again since there were many cars outside the tent.

"Sam, we have to get to that black altar or whatever before Sue-Ann strikes again," Kiki said as we got out of the car.

"So I guess that leaves princess and I to deal with the cops?" Dean asked, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Work with Dean? Seriously? Feeling a tug on my arm, I followed Dean toward the side of the tent where we saw people, including Layla and her mother, inside the tent getting ready to perform that "miracle."

"Hey!" I snapped my head up as Dean stood facing the house where two policemen were coming down the steps. They looked in our direction and I saw Dean smirk.

"Going to put that fear of God in me?" he asked, causing me to give him a look of insanity. Was he crazy talking to the cops like that? He must have been because they threw their coffee cups to the ground and started toward us. Grabbing onto my arm, Dean pulled me in the opposite direction and we set out to keep them busy for what I think was giving Sam and Kiki time to find the altar and destroy it.

"I'm assuming you were almost arrested or were arrested the last time you were here and they don't really like you?" I asked as we hurried around a parked trailer van or whatever just as the cops came around the corner.

"You could say that. It was either that or let you die. I thought the first idea would be better. Now shut up," he replied, clamping a hand over my mouth and pulling me against him as the cops began to shine their lights. Normally I would have fought him, but knowing time was short, I kept my mouth shut and stayed still. We stayed like that for about a minute before Dean started to edge his way up the truck slightly, causing me to jump in fright as a barking dog appeared at the window.

"You're tiny. Stay against the tire until they leave," he said as he let go of me and somehow found his way up the truck to the top. I was about to run my mouth when I saw a flash of light along the bottom of the truck, causing me to pull myself tight together against the truck wheel so that they wouldn't see me. I stayed like that for about a minute before I heard them mutter and start to walk off.

"I could kill you," I hissed as Dean's face appeared at the top of the truck.

"Yeah. Well kill me later. Come on," he said, jumping down and starting across the parking lot with me not far behind him.

"Do you think Sam and Kiki have found the altar yet?" I asked.

"I'm hoping. We really don't need…" But he stopped talking and turned around quite quickly, causing me to turn around and see the lights starting to go out.

"Dean? What's going on?" I asked as I started looking around for the source. But he didn't answer me as he turned back around and froze. Turning my head, I saw nothing there and the way he was looking was starting to really scare me. However, I let out a scream of fright when he let out a yell and fell to his knees.

"Dean? Come on, Dean. This isn't funny," I said as I tried to see if something was controlling him or something like that. I couldn't see anything and recognition finally hit me that the reaper was sucking the life out of him when his face starting going white with blue lips and short gasps of air. There was nothing I could do to help because I didn't know where Sam and Kiki were. I didn't know if they had gotten to the black altar or what. I was literally helpless. However, Dean let out a choked gasp of air and kind of fell backwards as he heaved in air.

"Dean? Dean? Are you ok?" I asked as I knelt down next to him and looked at him in concern. He stared at me for a second as he heaved in air before he finally spoke.

"Who are you and what the hell have you done with Artemis?" he asked, causing me to give him a shocked look. It was replaced in a slight second, however, with a chuckle and a shake of the head.

"I hate you too," I said, causing him to give me a smirk and give me a hand as he got up. Punching him in the arm, we walked back to the Impala where Kiki and Sam were just walking up.

"Hell of a week, huh?" Dean asked as I nodded in agreement.

"You can say that again. You two ok?" Sam asked as he nodded his head at us. We looked at one another before nodding. There was no use in telling either of them that either of us had broken a piece of our ice shield for the other. We would never hear the end of it.

* * *

"So where do you think our next adventure will take us?"

"I don't know. Maybe Los Angeles. It would be nice to hit the beaches again. Haven't been home in like four months or better. It would be nice to see everyone again. God knows that your Grandmother Annette is going "Where's Lauren?" every single day. The woman will be asking about you up until the day she dies," I replied as I tossed my bags into the trunk of the Impala.

"God help me. She worries me sometimes," Kiki said as she shook her head.

"That's because you're her only granddaughter. But at least you've got your family to care about you," I said, causing her to sigh and look at me.

"Artemis…."

"Kiki, let's not discuss it. It'll only make me upset. Look, here comes Dean and Sam," I said as I noticed the guys coming out of the hotel with the rest of the stuff.

"Alright. I'm off to go sign out of our room. Kiki, you want to go?" Sam asked. She nodded and the pair set off for the main office while Dean and I finished throwing the rest of our stuff into the Impala. It was quiet for a while before I spoke.

"Why did you save me the other day?" I asked, causing him to stop what he was doing and give me a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"The other day. When the reaper was coming to get me. I had never been more afraid in my life and to wake up knowing that you saved me was very confusing. Why did you do it?" I asked.

"Did you really expect me to leave you to die? Is that the kind of person you think I am?" he asked as disbelief settled in his facial expressions.

"I don't know what to think of you, Dean Winchester. One minute you're cracking jokes about my body and the next minute you're hating on me because you didn't like what I had to say or do. As far as I was concerned, you hated me and I hated you," I replied, causing him to roll his eyes.

"You're a bitch. You're a brat. You're annoying. I would like nothing than to throw you off a bridge for your mouth and for the fact that you can never keep it shut. But Sam and I have a job to do just like you and Kiki. We're hunters. We hunt the supernatural. To let anyone die, including you, the way that Sue-Ann was using that reaper is just wrong. I would have been no better than Sue-Ann if I let her take you the way she was trying to take you. Yes I feel bad about Layla, but everyone has to die sometime and Layla's time will come just as yours will as well as mine," he said. I stared at him for a second before allowing a small smile to grace my lips.

"What?" he asked with an annoyed look.

"Does Dean Winchester actually have a heart?" I asked.

"You should be asking yourself that question, princess," he replied with a smirk as I rolled my eyes.

"I have a heart, Dean. Even when it comes to you. Besides, you can't get rid of me. If you did, you'd stuck with Kiki and Sam," I said with a chuckle, causing him to give me a look.

"Come again?" he asked.

"Come on. You haven't seen it? I think something might be going on with Kiki and Sam. Why the hell do you think we're always stuck together?" I asked, nodding in the direction where Kiki and Sam were coming back from the main office laughing and joking with one another. He raised an eyebrow and looked over at me.

"You wouldn't be able to deal with them by yourself and you know you wouldn't. So it's best to hate me and argue with me than deal with those two if it gets to the point of love sickness," I said as he rolled his eyes.

"Get in the car. And you're still dead for the dent," he said as I laughed and shook my head.

"Whatever you say, Dean. Whatever you say," I said as I threw open the passenger side door and made myself comfortable in the backseat. I was joined by Kiki and we were off toward our next destination. Putting my ear pieces in, I pushed play on my iPod and leaned my head back against the seat as I thought about the past days. This hunt was probably the most painful and torturous that I had been through, but they were right there besides me. Dean, Sam, and Kiki were right beside me the entire way. But this event was enough to shake me and keep me on my toes. No doubt I would have to watch myself so that it didn't happen again. This time I didn't get to choose and knowing next time, I knew that I might not be that luck.


	5. Chapter 4: Route 666

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Route 666**

"I totally hate convenient stores in the middle of nowhere. They never seem to have anything good to choose from to eat. Sam and I had to go like 10 miles or something like that to bring donuts and coffee for you and Dean since you two were completely dead to the world this morning. How the hell can you too sleep so deeply when something horrible can happen at any minute?"

"It's a gift. Killing bad things helps me sleep at night," I replied, causing her to give me an insane look. I gave her a serious expression for about half a second before my lips curved into a smirk, causing her to toss a piece of her donut at my head. I merely caught it in my mouth and stood up from the concrete to head inside, my cup of coffee warming my hands instantly. Throwing open the motel door, I strode inside and gave Sam a nod, who was sitting at the table looking through his laptop for anything good to hunt, before I walked over to where Dean was still snoring and dumped my entire coffee cup over top of him. I let out a laugh as I jumped back from Dean jumping about a foot off of the bed from the hot liquid.

"Dammit Artemis!"

"Morning sunshine," I said as I tossed the empty cup into the trash can and gave him an innocent grin.

"Isn't going to work, Summers. What the hell was that for?" he growled as he moved toward me.

"Because you're a jerk, annoying as hell, you shouldn't tease me with things just because I'm short, and oh. You snore like a monster some little kid would find in their closet when they're young. So we're even. Get dressed so we can get going," I replied and bounded out of the room before he got a chance to say anything. I knew it was an awful way to start the day with Dean, but I was bored and Dean sleeping was as boring as hell. The least I could do to entertain myself was annoy him. Especially when he's just woken up. Those times were fun as hell.

"I take it you found another way to wake Dean up?" I let out a laugh as Kiki gestured to my empty hands. I merely gave her a nod and hopped up onto the hood of the Impala to wait for the brothers to come out of the motel room so we could get going. It wasn't long before both guys came out of the hotel room and Dean stopped short at the sight of me. His eyes narrowed and my lips curved into a smirk because I knew what he was going to say.

"What the hell are you doing sitting on the Impala?" he asked, causing me to look around me innocently before looking up at Kiki.

"Oh no. I'm sitting on the Impala. It's probably got a dent in it since I'm so big and fat," I said with sarcasm, hopping off and mockingly observing the hood as Sam and Kiki tried to hide their laughs while Dean growled.

"Artemis, I swear I'm going…."

"Going to what? Come on, Dean. You're going to what?" I asked as I stood before him with my hands on my hips and my body slightly cocked to an angle. He gave me a look and snarled. I merely smirked.

"You're a psycho bitch," he said, causing me to let out a laugh.

"Tell me something I don't already know," I said, shaking my head.

"Whatever. Get in the car. And don't ruin anything," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and flip him off before getting into the backseat. They got in and we were on our way. Handing me her laptop, Kiki leaned back and shut her eyes to go off to sleep. Not that I blamed her. With Sam sometimes having nightmares at night, she was always up to comfort him and talk to him about them. Surprisingly he opened up more for her than he did his own brother and that was just weird if you asked me.

"So what are we looking for this time? River killings? Killings deemed suicide? What?" I asked as I typed away.

"Uh….Don't know. What do you think, Dean?" Sam asked as he looked at his older brother. Dean was quiet for a moment and looked at me through the rearview mirror before speaking.

"I think that she clashes horribly against the blackness of the Impala," he replied, causing Sam to give him a weird look before turning around to look at me with the same strange look. However, his expression changed when he realized what his brother was talking about.

"Dude, I think you're right. Artemis, did you look in the mirror when you got dressed this morning?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes and look down at myself. I was wearing a short puffy like neon green skirt, a bright neon orange tank top, neon green converses I had specially ordered the last time Kiki and I were in L.A., bright yellow dangling earrings, and my hair pulled back in a green, orange, and yellow clip. I honestly didn't see anything wrong with what I was wearing. It was eccentric and crazy just like me. Nothing wrong with it.

"She's eccentric and crazy. She likes it when the ghosts can see her and come after her. Gets the job done a lot easier. Besides, there is nothing wrong with it. I think you've got a problem of style yourself, Dean," Kiki spoke up, not even opening her eyes. I chuckled and stuck my tongue out at the boys before placing the ear pieces of my iPod into my ears and leaning my head back on the seat. Sleep must have taken over me because the next thing I knew, I was waking up to find the car entirely empty. Looking out of the window, I saw that we were at a convenient store somewhere as I saw Dean talking on his cell phone and Kiki and Sam looking over a map discussing the best way to get to where ever we were going to. Getting out, I gave a yawn and placed myself between the two as they talked about construction somewhere along the road.

"So what's going on? Where we going?" I asked as I looked up at Sam.

"We're headed to Pennsylvania. I think we found a way to pass by some of that construction just east of here. We might make it to Pennsylvania faster than we thought we would," he replied, causing me to nod in understanding.

"Yeah. Problem is we're not going to Pennsylvania," Dean said as he hung up his cell phone and walked around to the driver's side of the car.

"We're what?" Kiki asked as we looked at one another.

"I just got a call from an old friend. Her father was killed last night. She thinks it might be our kind of thing," he replied, causing me to raise an eye brow in suspicion. Her?

"What?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Trust me. She never would have called, never, if she didn't think she needed us," he replied before getting into the car. Kiki and I looked at each other with suspicious looks. Something didn't sound right with what we were about to do. Rolling my eyes at Dean's impatient attitude, Kiki and I threw ourselves into the backseat as Sam got into the front before Dean pealed out of the store parking lot and started down the road.

"So this girl we're going to see, her name is?" Kiki asked.

"Cassie," he replied.

"And by "old friend" you mean what?" Sam asked.

"A friend that's not new," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes and flick him in the back of the head.

"Obviously Einstein. Tell us something we don't know," I said, causing him to give me a glare. I merely flipped him off as Sam started to interrogate him more.

"You never mentioned her," Sam said.

"Didn't I?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes. He so was not good at this playing dumb game. Obviously he needed practice very much.

"No," Sam replied, shaking his head.

"We went out a few times," he said, causing Sam to give a slight laugh at that.

"As in for more than one night?" Kiki asked, causing Dean to flip her off. Just because we had spent little time with these guys didn't mean that we didn't know a bunch of things about them. And Dean's track record with girls was nothing new to us.

"Am I speaking a language you people are just not getting here?" he asked, sounding annoyed that we would be interrogating him like this.

"Probably. We may have not known you for very long, Dean, but Kiki and I know you have a track record of one night stands with what you deemed outrageous sexy girls. So this one must have been special for you to date her for more than one night," I replied with a smirk as he gave me a glare.

"Alright you two. Let's not start something. What I don't get is why we're going in the first place. It sounds like a standard car accident. I just don't see how it fits into what we do, which by the way. How does she know what we do?" Sam asked as he looked at his brother. Kiki and I gave one another looks before looking at Dean also for his answer. He was quiet and didn't say anything, causing my jaw to drop in surprise when I realized what he had done.

"You told her. You told her the secret. The family secret. Our big family rule number one: We do what we do and we shut up about it. For a year and a half I do nothing but lie to Jessica, and you go out with this chick in Ohio a couple of times, and you tell her everything? Dean!" Sam exclaimed, causing Kiki and I to look at one another once again. We knew what he was getting at. What we did was not normal and would cause us to end up at the mental hospital if we were to tell people. I mean, nobody knew what I did since I didn't have any family left, but Kiki's family had known but forgotten about it. They were more for normal and such, so they never questioned their daughter's or granddaughter's whereabouts. She simply told them that she was doing business on the road for some company or what not. But I felt for Sam. I knew what he was getting at. Dean had screwed up big time and who knew what the outcome might be later on.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"So let me get this straight. You go out with this girl for a couple of weeks before she dumps you because you tell her that you professionally pop ghosts? And now she thinks something is killing people in town? Running them off the road? Sorry. But I got to agree with Sam on this one, Dean. How the fuck does car killings fit into what we do?" I rolled my eyes and gave Artemis a glare as we walked toward the newspaper building where I knew Cassie worked.

"I'm trying to be serious here, Dean. It just doesn't make sense," she said.

"Look. Cassie would have never called if she didn't think it was something we could do. She thinks it's something up our alley and we're going to figure it out. Now shut up and stop being a pain in the ass," I growled, causing her to stick her tongue out at me. I merely rolled my eyes and pulled open the door into the newspaper building. I wasn't in the mood to be dealing with her childish games today. Walking in, I saw Cassie talking to two men and by her body language I could tell that she was upset. Or pissed off. One of the two.

"That's Cassie? Dean, you must have lost your taste in girls or something because she's not something you normally go for." I gave a sharp glare to Artemis, who merely smirked in return. I was going to strangle her indefinitely if she didn't shut up. However, I didn't get a chance to say something to her when Cassie turned around and stood surprised at the presence of me. I could hear Artemis give an annoyed sigh and if I would have turned to look at her, I am almost positive she would have been rolling her eyes.

"Dean," Cassie said as she came toward us.

"Hey Cassie," I said with a small nod as she looked at me. There was something I couldn't shake off as I started to feel a bit uncomfortable in the awkwardness that was surrounding us. It was a good thing I remembered that Sam and the girls were standing with me.

"Um…This is my brother, Sam. And this here is Kiki and Artemis, some girls that have started working with us," I said as I introduced them to her, causing her to give each of them a nod until I noticed her gaze stop on Artemis with a bit of confusion. I turned my head just slightly as I realized what she was staring at. The fact that Artemis stood out like god knows what and the fact that she didn't care what the people around her were staring at her like she was crazy. I merely shook my head and turned my attention back to Cassie.

"I'm really sorry about your dad," I said, causing her to look at me with a weak smile.

"Yeah. Me too," she said with a small nod. I could tell that she was hurting, but I kept my composure because Artemis' all too known smirk was burning into the back of my skull. I swear that I am going to seriously throw her off the next bridge we come to.

"I guess I could take you back to my place and we can talk about this whole thing," Cassie said, breaking the awkwardness that was taking place. I gave her a nod and turned to follow her as she started walking toward the door, but was stopped at the sight of Artemis as she crossed her arms over her chest and gave me a smirk.

"Just an old friend, huh?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes and flip her off before following Cassie out. I could hear Artemis and Kiki whispering about something as we got back into Impala, causing me to shake my head in annoyance.

"They're girls, Dean. They're going to talk, talk, and do more talking. Especially Artemis now that she's got something to hold over you once again. Don't you just ever know when to shut up around her?" Sam asked as I started the Impala up and followed Cassie. I gave my brother a look and he shook his head.

"I've learned from about the second or third day that it's just best to keep your mouth shut when it comes to Artemis because she'll just use it against you then and there or later on down the road when you're least expecting it. Trust me. I know. Remember just after the scarecrow bit when Artemis was just in a terrible mood for like two or three days?" he asked, causing me to give him the look again before nodding. I remembered. Quite a huge explosion for someone as tiny as her.

"Yeah. I made the mistake of saying something really mean to her when we got into an argument. I didn't mean it, but she held onto it for like two or three days before finally letting me have it. So just be careful. Or well just keep running your mouth since she likes to piss you off and argue with you," he said, causing me to roll my eyes. Somebody shoot me now.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"My mother's in pretty bad shape. I've been staying with her. I just wish she wouldn't go off by herself. She's been so nervous and frightened. She was worried about dad," Cassie said, coming into her living room with a tray full of tea and coffee for us as we sat around her living room talking about the recent events.

"Why?" Dean asked.

"He was scared. He kept seeing things," she replied as she passed out the cups. I accepted mine with a nod and gave Kiki a look before grabbing her laptop out of her bag to start looking for things.

"Like what?" Sam asked.

"He swore he saw an awful black truck following him," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow and look at Kiki as she looked at me. A truck? This is what this whole thing was about? A truck?

"A truck? Who was the driver?" Kiki asked.

"He never talked about the driver. Just about the truck. He said that it would just appear and disappear. And in the accident, dad's truck had a dent that looked like it was hit by something big," she replied.

"And you're sure that the dent wasn't there before any of this?" I asked, causing her to look at me.

"He sold cars. Always drove a new one. There wasn't a scratch on it. Although it had rained hard that night. There was mud everywhere. But there was a distinct set of tracks leading from dad's truck to…to where he went over the edge. One set of tracks. His," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes. I didn't really need to be talked to like I was 7. I got all the information prior to my question.

"And the first person killed was a friend of your father's?" Dean asked as she looked back over to him.

"Best friend. Clayton Soames. They owned the car dealership together. There was a dent. One set of tracks. His. And the cops said exactly what they said about dad. He lost control of his car," she replied.

"Now, can you think of any reason why your father and his partner might be targets?" he asked.

"No," she replied.

"So you think that this vanishing truck just ran them off the road? Like it wanted them dead?" Kiki asked, causing Cassie to look at us with glares. I knew she was going to say something, so I shoved the laptop into Kiki's hand and stood up. Although I was shorter than ever Cassie herself, I really didn't care as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Look. You want to say something to us, go ahead. It's not really going to matter because frankly, I think the story is a crock of shit. A vanishing truck? No driver? You said it yourself. It had been raining hard that night. I can't tell you how many vehicles I ruined since I've been able to drive because of some kind of weather malfunction. Unless you can give us hardcore proof that your father was killed by some bloody demon driving a huge black truck, I don't believe a word you say and I frankly don't care. Get your facts together, darling," I said.

"Artemis," Dean growled as he stood up.

"What? Truth hurts? It's the truth, Dean. We don't have anything to go on but some dead dude's account. Have there been any recent events dragging up to this besides her father's best friend being dead? No. So makes anyone so sure that it's something supernatural? It shouldn't," I snapped.

"Art…"

"Forget. I'll be outside," I said as I gave Dean a dirty look before I stormed outside, nearly colliding with a woman, presumably Cassie's mother, as she came into the house. I ignored her as she told me off and headed down to the Impala. I was fuming inside and I knew that if I had stayed a second longer in their presence, I would have gone off and I knew that's not what we needed at the moment. Sure it was sad to see her upset about the loss of her dad, but a black truck that appeared and then disappeared? Come on. It just wasn't logical. Especially if no one else saw it but the person that was dead.

"That was really uncalled for, Artemis."

"Sod off, Sam. I don't need a lecture right now. Listening to your brother later is enough," I said as I turned to see Sam walking toward me.

"Artemis, I don't want to lecture you, but what was that all about? Her father died and you think she's lying about this truck? How the hell would you know if it was real or not?" he asked.

"Because there's a fine line between real and fake, Sam. A truck that appears and then disappears? The only accounts we have are from the two people that are dead. But she pretty much gave us a dead end when she said that there was only one set of tracks and it had been raining that night," I replied.

"Artemis, Dean and I pretty much have had several cases where it was sounding fake but turned out to be real. I don't see why you're being such a bitch about this," he said.

"Because there's a fine line between what's real and what's not. I know what it's like to lose a parent in some unexplainable way. I lost my mom when I was 5 and I lost my dad when I was 8. Ok? I know what it's like to lose someone close, but to make up some story because you don't know what happened is just not cool with me," I said.

"You lost your parents?" he asked as he gave me a shocked look.

"Yeah," I replied with a slight nod.

"Wait. In an unexplainable way?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"Look. It's really more for another day, Sam. Some day down the road when we're not exactly fighting evil or what not, I promise I will tell you about my family, which I don't have. My entire family is dead, so I will explain to you another day. Ok?" I asked. He gave me a look before sighing.

"You know something? For once I would just like to see you act like a human being. Like you are now. Emotions flowing out rather than the hardcore ice bitch you put yourself out to be," he replied, causing me to shake my head.

"When you've been through what I have since I was 5, then talk to me about emotions. I didn't become a hunter just because I wanted to, Sam. Events in my past make me the hardcore ice bitch, as you so mildly put it. It's the only thing I have to keep me from screwing up like I have in the past. Sam, it's not easy with a curse hanging over your head," I said, causing him to give me a confused look. I sighed and placed a hand over my face as I realized what I just said.

"Sam, you never heard that. Alright? You never heard it," I said.

"Art…."

"Sam, please," I said as I gave him a look. He stared at me for a second before speaking.

"I don't know what's going on with you, Artemis, but you might dig yourself a hole that you can't bring yourself out of if this continues. Now I'm going to keep my mouth shut, but I'm going to hold you to your promise. And you're going to tell me everything. Understood?" he asked, causing me to sigh but nod my head. There was nothing I could do to reverse what I had said. I couldn't believe I had said that, especially in front of Sam. If there was anyone worse than Dean to hold something over anyone's head, it was definitely Sam. The guy had a fucking bloody good memory if you asked me.

"Sam, this is just….."

"I'm going to strangle you, Summers!" I stopped talking as Dean's voice split through the air, causing me to turn slightly to see both him and Kiki coming toward us. I rolled my eyes as Dean's narrowed once he stood in front of me.

"Could you get anymore rude and ignorant?" he asked, causing me to give him a scoff.

"Well excuse me. I don't believe the tale she's spinning," I replied as I once again crossed my arms over my chest.

"We hunt things that are like this, Summers. I don't know about you or Kiki, but Sam and I have been on hunts that seem ridiculous and such at the beginning that always seem to turn out to be some kind of supernatural. I don't know what's gotten into you, but what you just did was uncalled for," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Whatever. Say whatever it is you want to say. Not like I'm going to care because I don't. Unless you've got hardcore evidence to this, you're on your own. Kiki can do whatever the hell she wants but I'm not investigating anything until something either plants itself right in front of my face or something shows up on the net. Simple as that," I said, causing him to growl.

"Summers, I swear to God that…."

"That you'll what? Dump me in the middle of nowhere? Drop me over a side of the bridge? What? You don't scare me, Dean Winchester. Just because I'm short and weigh two or three times less than you doesn't mean I'm scared of you. I'm telling you right now that I don't want anything to do with this until some kind of legit reason drops right in front of me. You're on your own with this one," I said.

"Summers…."

"Dean! Artemis! That's enough! Artemis, you've made your point. We won't ask you for help unless there is evidence to it. Dean, don't worry about what Artemis is doing. You need to worry about Cassie right now. That's all that should matter at this point," Kiki said as she stepped between us. I scowled but didn't say anything. I knew saying anything would get her pissed off and having Dean pissed off at me was enough.

"Kiki's right. Look, Dean and I will go tomorrow to check out Cassie's dad's job and talk to some of his other friends to see what's going on around town. We'll see if something like this has happened before. Kiki, tomorrow I want you to check the internet or the library to see if you can find anything. Artemis, do whatever you have to do to either convince yourself that this may be real or that it's not. Whatever you choose is up to you. But you both need to stop fighting for now until we finish this job. So let's just go get a motel and sleep on it for the night. Hopefully nothing else happens," Sam said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Whatever," I said before throwing open the door of the Impala and getting inside. I was soon followed by the rest of them. I saw Dean glare at me through the rear view mirror and I merely flipped him off before slipping my ear pieces into my ears and blasting my music to drown out their voices. This was going to be a long couple of days.

* * *

"Oh my god. What in hell?" I rolled my eyes at Kiki as we watched the paramedics close up the body bag that held another one of Cassie's dad's friends, Jimmy or something along those lines. He was the third victim in this whole shenanigan of the whole appearing/disappearing truck thing and I have yet to hear anything about another set of tracks. I didn't even see any suggestions of foul play with the car. Disappearing black truck my ass.

"Hey Art! Let's go!" I broke from my thoughts as Sam yelled at me to follow him as they headed back toward the Impala.

"What's up?" I asked as I caught up to him.

"Dean, Kiki, and I are going to check out his job or whatever. Talk to some other friends or whatever to see what we can find out. Will you please do me a big favor? Hang out with Cassie for a couple of hours?" he asked, causing me to give him a shocked look before my eyes narrowed into slits.

"Hell no. Bloody hell no. Forget it, Sam. I'm not hanging around your brother's doll or girlfriend or whatever the fuck she is. I'd rather go check out that disappearing black truck you people keep talking about," I replied, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Artemis, please. I never ask you to do anything. But I'm asking you to spend a few hours with Cassie to see if maybe you might believe in what's happening. Maybe you two can find some common ground since you both lost your parents. Well, your fathers anyway," he said, causing me to sigh.

"Sam…."

"Artemis, just please do this. For me," he said, causing me to sigh and run a hand through my hair. It was true. Sam never asked me to do anything, but what he was asking me to do now was absolutely nuts.

"Alright. Fine. I'll do it. But you owe me for it," I said, causing him to chuckle.

"One extra hot coffee for pouring over a snoring, sleeping Dean coming up," he said, causing me to shake my head and shoo him toward the Impala before I trudged my way over to where Cassie was standing and watching the police and paramedics.

"Another best friend of your father's?" I asked as I stopped next to her, causing her to jump just slightly at the sound of my voice before glaring at me.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off not giving a damn?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I don't give a damn. But Sam asked me to stay and talk with you while he, Sam, and Kiki do some investigating of their own. Figured we might have something in common," I replied, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Us have something in common? Yeah right," she said.

"Our fathers dying would be good for starters. But whatever," I said, causing her to look at me with a surprised look as I started to walk away.

"Excuse me?" she asked, causing me to stop and turn and look at her.

"What?" I asked with annoyance.

"You lost your dad?" she asked.

"Yeah. When I was 8," I replied, causing her to lose the angry, confused look and replace it with a look of sadness and sympathy, causing me to sigh. I hated when people did that.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," she said, causing me to shrug.

"It's alright. It was 13 years ago. It can't be anything like what you're going now," I said, causing her to shake her head.

"Losing someone sticks with you forever. I guess I just didn't know what it felt like until now. I didn't think I was going to lose someone like this," she said, causing me to sigh. I really didn't like this case, but I had to say what was going through my mind.

"Cassie, have you ever seen this truck? I mean, honestly?" I asked, causing her to look at me for a second before her eyes started to narrow.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Cassie, I'm not trying to be a bitch right now. I promised Sam I would come and talk to you, but I need to know that answer," I replied, causing her to scoff.

"What would it matter to you?" she asked.

"Because there's a fine line between what's real and what's not. I know. Both of my parents died in an unexplainable way and it took me years to find out why. I'm only asking you this because I didn't see any marks on your father's friend's car to suggest foul play. I didn't see an extra set of tracks. Now I'm all for shooting first and asking questions later, but I've got to have hard evidence. Something to make me believe what your father was saying was the truth. Records or pictures that indicate it could possibly real. Incidents that may have happened in the past to prove that it's real. Something that gives me the credibility to say "Ok. We have a problem and we need to get rid of it." Cassie, I know it hurts losing your dad. I was 5 years old when I lost my mother and I was 8 years old when I lost my father. I spent several years with my mother's family who hated me and wanted nothing to do with me. I spent those several years trying to figure out what happened to my parents and it took me until I was about 14 to realize what had happened to them. Why they had died. But I only figured out why they happened because there were past incidents that happened like them. Well, my mom anyways. So I apologize if I'm rubbing you the wrong way, Cassie, but please understand my concern," I said. She stared at me for a minute before the glare in her eyes softened.

"I wish I could help you believe me, Artemis, but I don't have anything but my father's words and he's gone. There's nothing more I have," she said, causing me to sigh.

"Then you know I can't help or believe you until I do," I said, causing her to nod.

"I guess I have to rely on Dean and his brother to help me," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"To pop a ghost professionally is one thing. To help a girl is another. No offense, but I'm surprised he held onto you for a few weeks like he said. Are you sure it was just for a few weeks?" I asked, causing her to laugh.

"I'm sure. And did you just say pop a ghost professionally?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"Because that's what he was telling me when I broke up with him," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Break up? With Dean?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Are you telling me that he didn't dump you first? That he wasn't the one that wanted to break up with you? Are you kidding me?" I asked, causing her to laugh again.

"For someone who hates the guts out of Dean Winchester, you seem to want to know everything about him," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"As far as I'm concerned, he can go jump off a fucking bloody bridge and die for all I care," I said as we started walking toward her car.

"Ok. So if you don't care about him, how'd you get stuck with him?" she asked.

"Got about an hour?" I asked, causing her to chuckle. A couple of hours later we were sitting in the living room drinking tea and talking about things, including Dean.

"So what in hell did you ever see in Winchester? Besides the fact that he's an idiot and arrogant and rude?" I asked.

"Aren't you arrogant and rude as well? Or was I just seeing things last night when you were here in my home?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm the way I am for a certain reason, Cassie. Dean doesn't make it any easier," I said.

"You two are more alike than you think. If you ever get over the differences, maybe you could date," she said, causing me to gag as she laughed.

"Don't even get me started. I really couldn't deal with the emotional baggage of dating someone. I'll leave that to you and Kiki," I said, causing her to roll her eyes.

"You'll be in love one day, Artemis," she said, causing me to shake my head.

"No thanks. I couldn't deal with any of it. I think I'm destined to be alone for the rest of my life. Maybe with some cats or something. But no guy," I said, causing her to laugh and shake her head. It was true. That's how I felt every time I saw a couple happily together or when Kiki talked about a boyfriend or something. It would be nice to have a boyfriend or someone to love, but with me, it was hard to do. With everything that's happened to me, there was no chance of me ever falling in love.

"Dean?" I snapped out of my thoughts as Cassie's voice rang through my ears. Looking up, I saw Dean come through the door. Rolling my eyes, I stood up and moved toward them.

"I'm taking this as my cue to go," I said, causing him to look away from Cassie to look at me.

"What the hell are you doing here? Sam said you went back to the motel," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Well obviously I didn't. Sam asked me to talk to Cassie and see what I could find out. Unfortunately I still don't believe in this appearing/disappearing truck, but we've come to an understanding. So I'm going to leave and leave you two together. See ya," I said before I shook my head and headed out the door. It was beginning to snow just slightly and I shook my head. This was the first snow I had really seen in a long time. Not since I left England at 14 years old.

"Hello?" I asked, picking up my cell phone as it rang in my pocket.

"Please tell me you didn't kill Cassie."

"No Sam. I guess you could say we had a rather nice talk, but it ended when Dean walked into the picture. I'm out walking right now. I should probably be back at the motel in about half an hour," I said, causing him to sigh.

"Artemis, I don't think that's such a hot idea. We actually got some things out of a friend of Cassie's father. They've heard about the truck. Well, one guy did. He said that there was a string of deaths back in the 60's where a string of black men disappeared. Story goes that they would disappear into this big black truck," he said.

"So you think that just because some person is telling you exactly what Cassie's dad said that you think it may not be safe for me to be walking all by myself? Even though you just said so yourself that the guy said it was a string of black men?" I asked.

"Artemis, all I'm saying is that I don't think it's safe for you. You could have at least called for someone to pick you up," he said.

"Sam, I'll be fine. I'll see you in a little bit," I said before I hung up and stuck my phone back in my pocket. Shaking my head, I continued on my way as the snow stopped falling. It was a bit foggy, so it was kind of hard to tell if it was exactly night out. I mean, I knew it was night out since I could tell as I left Cassie's, but where I was now, it was kind of hard to tell. As I hurried up a hill to keep from slipping, I heard a rumble from what I think was a truck. It wasn't uncommon since the road nearby was the main road, or according to Cassie it was. Reaching the road, I had to blink and rub my eyes to make sure I was seeing things. The mayor of the town was running down the road with a huge black truck right behind him. I watched as the mayor seemingly jumped out of the way and the truck just vanish into thin air.

"Holy shit," I muttered before I took off across the street to where the mayor was. I couldn't believe it. Cassie's dad was right and Sam and Dean were never going to let me live this down. They were right when they said that sometimes a false leave could end with it being real. They were dead on. As was the mayor when I finally reached him. I blanched and pulled out my cell phone as I headed back up to the road.

"Let me guess. You need a ride home since you can't find it here to the motel?"

"Shut up, Sam. No. Well yes. But Sam, you were right," I replied, causing him to choke on whatever he had been drinking before he spoke to me.

"Wait. You're telling me that I was right about something? Artemis, are you ok?" he asked.

"Sam, I just watched the mayor get killed by a huge black truck. Does it sound like I'm ok?" I asked.

"What? Artemis, where are you?" he asked.

"Somewhere on the road where these accidents have been happening. Sam, I really…." But the sound of a revving engine caused me to stop talking and slowly turn around. My eyes widened as I saw the truck about 20 feet from where I was standing.

"Artemis?"

"Sam, do me a favor and get the hell out here now," I snapped before I quickly shut my phone and shoved it into my pocket. I jumped slightly and started backing away as it revved itself up again. I couldn't see any driver and I was beginning to get chills down my spine because this was the first time I had really faced anything that I couldn't see. Person wise anyway.

"Oh shit," I muttered before I started moving just as it started moving toward me. I knew I couldn't out run a truck. I wasn't that stupid. So to avoid hitting the truck, I had done exactly what the mayor had done. I jumped off the side of the road and kind of rolled downhill. Rolling to a stop, I cautiously peered through my eyelids to watch where the truck was. It was sitting at the top of the hill doing absolutely nothing. Except I think watching me. I think it expected me to get up and move, but I didn't move one single muscle in my body. I knew I was bleeding, but I didn't care at this exact moment. Not moving meant living to see another day. And it worked. The truck eventually began to pull away and it disappeared. Sighing, I rolled over onto my back and groaned. Why me?

* * *

"Where were you last night? You didn't make it back to the motel." I stopped talking to the police officer about what had happened when I heard Sam and Dean starting to talk. Sam had shown up not long after the truck had disappeared with Kiki in tow. I was shaking from head to toe, but I was not going to let Dean see me like that.

"So what happened?" Dean asked.

"Every bone crushed. Internal organs turned to pudding. It was almost like something ran him over," Sam replied.

"Like a truck?" he asked.

"Yep. And you'll never guess who saw it," Sam replied, causing Dean to give him a look of confusion.

"Somebody saw Mayor Todd be crushed by a giant black truck? Somebody actually saw this thing?" he asked.

"No Dean. I'm just making it up as we go along," I snapped, causing him to look at me before scoffing.

"Sam, please tell me you're joking. Please tell me this is a joke. Wasn't it just yesterday she didn't believe in anything that was going on?" he asked as he looked at his brother.

"She did. Until it went after her," Sam replied, causing him to look between the both of us in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"I left Cassie's house last night and walked back to the motel. Well I obviously didn't make it back there last night because I watched Mayor Todd get run off the road by that huge black truck everyone has been talking about. And then, for some odd reason, it came after me while I was on the phone with Sam. So yeah. I think this truck does exist," I replied, rolling my eyes in the process.

"Ok. We know why you were here. What was the mayor doing here?" he asked.

"He owned the property," Sam replied, causing Dean to give him a confused look.

"But he's white. And so is she. Doesn't fit the pattern," he said.

"Killing didn't happen on the road, Dean. I mean, I jumped off the road and tumbled down hill but his was just….yeah," I said, causing him to sigh. I knew what he was thinking. It didn't make any sense whatsoever. It had started killing black people, but now it had killed a white person and it didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"Alright. I'll go talk to Cassie again and see if we can't find anything out. See if she can't be of any help in that department," he said.

"Kiki, go with Dean. We can't really afford to have him screwing her again while this truck is on the rampage," I said, causing him to give me a glare. I merely flipped him off and stuck out my tongue before grabbing Sam by the arm and pulling him in the direction of Mayor Todd's car.

"You know something? You can be so childish sometimes," Sam said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"And your brother is a fucking prick. We're even. But I was dead serious. You know as well as I do that your brother screwed Cassie last night and if we leave them alone again, we might never solve this case," I said, shaking my head.

"Is somebody jealous?" he asked, causing me to give him a glare.

"Sam, do you really want me to kick your ass for even suggesting that?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Art. Whatever you say," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes in turn. How could he even suggest something like that? I was going to kill him later for it, but at this particular point, I needed him to figure out what was going on. And to stop it from trying to kill me or anyone else. Damn I hated my job sometimes.

* * *

"Maybe you could throw a couple of shots in there." I let out a snort of laughter into my cup of tea as Sam brought some out for Cassie as we all sat gathered in Cassie's living room with her mother. Apparently the truck had showed up at Cassie's house, marking her and her mother as targets, which didn't make any sense to me.

"So you didn't see anyone driving the truck?"

"It appeared to be no one. Everything was moving so fast. And then it was just gone. Why didn't it kill us?" Cassie asked.

"Whatever is controlling the truck wants you afraid first," Dean said, causing me to notice her mother starting to sigh.

"Mrs. Robinson, Cassie told us that you husband said that he saw the truck before he died," Sam said as he noticed the same thing. When she didn't answer, I started getting suspicious and set my cup down before starting to get up and pace just slightly.

"Martin was under a lot of stress lately. You couldn't be sure what he was seeing," she said.

"Well, after tonight, we can be reasonably sure that he was seeing a truck. What happened tonight, you and Cassie are marked. Okay? Your daughter could die. So if you know something, now would be a good time to tell us about it," Dean said, causing me to nod in agreement. I could tell that this lady was hiding something and if we didn't get her to tell us now, someone else was going to die. Possibly her daughter if that's what we were assuming.

"Yes." I snapped my head up at Mrs. Robinson's remark.

"Yes. He said he saw a truck," she said.

"Did he say who it belonged to?" Sam asked.

"He thought he did," she replied.

"Who was that?" Dean asked. The room was silent for a moment before she spoke.

"Cyrus. A man named Cyrus," she replied, causing Sam, Dean, and Kiki to look at one another. I merely raised an eyebrow in confusion. Who the hell was Cyrus? But I didn't have to think much harder when Dean pulled out some papers and showed the top one to Mrs. Robinson. Looking closer, I saw that it was a man that seemed to be missing.

"Is this Cyrus?" he asked, causing me to look over at her.

"Cyrus Dorian died more than 40 years ago," she said, causing me to raise my eyebrow again.

"How do you know that he died, Mrs. Robinson? If I'm reading what's in Dean's hand correctly, it still says he was missing. How do you know that he died" I asked.

"We were all very young. I was dating Cyrus for awhile. I…I…I was also seeing Martin. In secret, of course because interracial couples didn't go over too well then. When I broke it off with Cyrus and when he found out about Martin, I don't know. He….he changed," she replied, causing me to look at Dean for a second before looking back at her.

"What do you mean that he changed?" I asked.

"His hatred….his hatred was frightening," she replied.

"The string of murders," Sam said, causing me to nod as I started to slowly piece together what was going on.

"There were rumors. People of color disappearing into some kind of a truck. Nothing was ever done. Martin and, uh…Martin and I, we were going to uh….we were going to be married in that little church near here. But uh…but at the last minute, we decided to elope because we didn't want all the attention," she said.

"Which probably caused Cyrus to do something unexplainable or something really irrational," Kiki said as I nodded in agreement.

"The day that we set for the wedding was the day someone set fire to the church. There was a children's choir practicing in there. They all died," she said as she started to weep.

"Did the attacks stop after that?" Sam asked.

"No. There was one more. One night that truck came for Martin. Cyrus beat him something terrible. But Martin, you see, Martin got loose. He started hitting Cyrus and he just kept hitting him and hitting him and…." I put a hand over my face as the weeping started to get harder as she continued on. Even if she didn't finish, I knew where this story was going to end.

"Why didn't you call the cops?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes and smack him in the back of the head.

"This was 40 years ago, Dean," I replied, causing him to give me a glare but look back at Mrs. Robinson.

"Your friend said it. This was 40 years ago. He called on his friends, Clayton Soames and Jimmy Anderson. Together they put Cyrus's body into his truck and rolled it into the swamp at the edge of his land. And all three of them kept that secret all these years," she said.

"And now all three are gone," Kiki said as I nodded.

"And so is Mayor Todd," Sam added.

"And he said that you, of all people, would know that he is not a racist. Why would he say that?" Dean asked.

"He was a good man. He was a young deputy back then. Investigating Cyrus's disappearance. Once he figured out what Martin and the others had done, he….he did nothing. Because he also knew what Cyrus had done," she replied, causing the four of us to look at one another. This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute. And the tale. It was by far the most unbelievable one we had heard yet.

"I'm going to go out for air," I said, causing me to shake my head at Kiki as she made to get up. She gave me a weird look but stayed seated as I left the house. Sighing, I took in a breath of air and leaned against the Impala as I looked up at the sky. Of all things to lose a parent to, this took the cake. Cassie's father's death absolutely took the cake for me. I mean, my parents' deaths were not normal either, but to lose somebody like this, it was just too much.

"You ok?" I turned my head as Sam came toward me.

"Yeah. It was just getting a little too much for me in there. To go from not believing to believing in such a short amount of time makes one's head hurt. I'll be ok," I replied.

"Are you sure?" he asked, causing me to nod.

"Thanks for your concern, Sam, but even if I did tell you what's bothering me about this whole thing, you would never understand," I replied, causing him to sigh and lean against the Impala with me.

"Artemis, sometimes keeping something as secret as you are to yourself can be dangerous. It can hurt you in the long run," he said.

"I know, but I get through day by day. I just have to take it one day at a time. Like I told Cassie before. It took me until I was 14 to figure out why my parents had died. It's only taking us two or three days to help Cassie out. It's a lot shorter than what I've had to go through," I said.

"So what? Your parents get killed by a big demon killing truck too?" he asked, causing me to chuckle and shake my head.

"You're so full of questions that won't be answered right now. I promised you my past when the time is right and I expect you to abide by it," I said, causing him to give me a look before sighing.

"One of these days you're going to have to come clean, Artemis," he said, causing me to sigh.

"I know, Sam. I know. But let's cut the chitter-chatter because here comes Dean and Kiki," I said as said figures approached us.

"What were you two talking about?" Kiki asked.

"How simple we wished life was," I replied, causing Sam to snort with laughter as I gave him a grin.

"Yeah. Life before this was simple. Just school, exams….papers on polycentric cultural norms," he said as I shook my head.

"So than I guess I saved you from a boring existence," Dean said, causing me to roll my eyes. Was he really that dense to not catch on to the fact that we really weren't talking about normality at this point? Oh wait. We're talking about Dean here. We're just going to let him keep going.

"Yeah. I occasionally miss boring," he said.

"Count me in on that one," Kiki said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Alright. So this killer truck…."

"I miss conversations that didn't start with "this killer truck"," Sam said, causing me to snort with laughter as Dean gave him a glare for interrupting him. Kiki merely rolled her eyes and shook her head. Boys.

"Ok. So this Cyrus guy. Evil infected on a level that infected his truck. When he died, the swamp became his tomb and his spirit was dormant for 40 years," he said.

"So what woke it up?" I asked.

"The construction of his house," he replied.

"Or the deconstruction. I'm guessing you weren't with either Dean or Sam when they were discussing about what happened to the old Dorian place earlier today?" Kiki asked, causing me to shake my head. I had been back at the motel doing some research on my own. Figured I could keep myself out of trouble for a while.

"We're going to have to bring it up out of the swamp and salt and burn it, right?" I asked as I looked at everyone.

"You said it," Dean replied, causing me to roll my eyes. Why couldn't he just ever give a straight answer? Oh yeah. He's a fucking prick. That's why. I broke out of my thoughts when I heard Kiki giggling and nearly gagged when I saw Dean and Cassie in a lip lock.

"Come on, Romeo! We haven't got all night!" I yelled, causing them to break apart and Dean to glare at me. I merely flipped him off and stuck out my tongue before getting into the Impala. I really didn't need to see him making out with some other girl while we had a job to do. I know it sounded like I was jealous but get over it. I'm not. I'd rather die and be burned in fucking hell than be jealous over a prick of a guy.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Alright! A little more! Little more!"

"Keep pulling it up, Dean!"

"A little more, a little more, a litt…Alright! Stop!" I jammed the trailer vehicle into park and shut it off before jumping down and making my way toward my brother and the two girls as they had directed me into pulling the damn truck out of the swamp.

"Now I can see what she sees in you," Sam said, causing me to give him a look as I went to the Impala.

"Say what?" I asked.

"Come on, man. You're still in love with her," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes as he made mention of Cassie.

"Come on, Sam. Can we focus please? We got a body to burn before that thing shows up and wants to make us into pudding," Artemis said as she made a face at the mention of Cassie. I gave her a look of confusion for a split second since I really didn't like the tone of voice that she was using. It almost sounded like…like…jealousy.

"Wait. What? Jealous? Whatever," I thought, shaking my head clear of those thoughts and nodding in Artemis's direction.

"It would do you some good to listen to her," I said as I grabbed a flashlight and started heading toward the truck while Artemis and Kiki got the rest of the stuff to salt and burn the body. Cautiously opening the door, I made a face at the smell coming out the second that we opened it.

"Let's get this done and over with," I said as Sam helped me take the body over to pile of laid out wooden crates, causing Artemis and Kiki to start salting the body as Sam opened up the gasoline tank. Reaching into her pocket, Artemis pulled out a lighter and with smirk, set the body on fire.

"Pyro," I muttered, causing Artemis to give me a smirk as if she had heard me. Shaking my head, I turned my head back to the body as it burned up.

"Think that will do it?" Sam asked. Artemis was just about to say something but stopped when lights flooded the area we were in and a truck revved up. She and Kiki both stepped slightly back as it revved up again.

"I guess not," I replied.

"So burning the body had no effect on that thing?" he asked.

"Sure it did. Now it's really pissed," I replied.

"But Cyrus's ghost is gone, right?" Kiki asked.

"Apparently not the part that's fused with the truck," I replied as I started to head toward the Impala.

"Where are you going?" Artemis asked as she was quick to follow. I gave her a look but didn't question her about it since questioning would just lead to arguing and arguing was something I didn't want to do right now.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked as he repeated her question.

"For a little ride. Going to lead it away. That rusted piece of shit, you gotta burn it. You and Kiki both," I replied as I tossed them a bag full of stuff.

"How the hell are we suppose to burn a truck, Dean?" Kiki asked.

"I don't know. Think of something," I replied before both Artemis and I threw ourselves into the Impala and started moving away from the scene, the truck following us. As I looked to the rear view mirror at the truck following behind us, Artemis leaned over the seat and grabbed something from her bag.

"What are you doing?" I asked as she pulled out a notebook and a pen. She completely ignored me and started quickly moving the pen across the book as if drawing something. I merely rolled my eyes and pulled out my cell phone to call Sam.

"You're going to have to give us a minute," Kiki said as she picked up on Sam's phone.

"I don't have a minute! Artemis is absolutely no help right now since she's drawing in that stupid book of hers! What are you doing?!" I asked, causing Artemis to give me a glare before returning back to what she was doing.

"It's a memory thing, Dean. Leave her to it. It proves useful. We'll call you back," she said before she hung up.

"Great! What the hell are you doing?" I asked as I glanced over at Artemis with the corner of my eye.

"It's a memory trick my dad taught me when I was a kid. I have a good memory and when I need to remember something I always draw it out. I remember this road coming into the town and when the damn thing behind us tried to run me over. There's something along here that can help us," she replied as she gave me a look. I gave her a strange look before grabbing my cell phone and answering it.

"Dean?"

"This better be good," I snapped as I heard Sam's voice.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'm in the middle of nowhere with a killer truck on my ass. It's like it knows we put the torch to Cyrus or something," I replied.

"Listen to me. It's important. I need to know exactly where you're at," he said.

"Decatur Road. It's about two miles off the highway," I said, causing Artemis to quickly grab my phone out of my hand and begin to talk to same. I was about to say something when I felt the truck slam into the back of the Impala, causing Artemis to give a slight shriek before regaining her composure enough to speak.

"Turn right up ahead," she said, causing me to give her a look.

"What?" I asked.

"Turn right," she snapped, causing me to sharply turn the wheel and hit the gas. We spun just slightly and kept on going, the truck not far from behind us.

"Ok. There should be a road just up ahead on the right? Do you see it?" she asked as she looked at me.

"What? No I don't see…Wait. Yes," I replied as I noticed a road coming up on our left, which the truck was as well. It started moving out from behind us and up along the left side of the Impala, causing Artemis's eyes to widen as she rapidly started speaking to Sam.

"Artemis!" I yelled, drawing her attention back in.

"You need to make that left, Dean," she snapped, causing me to look at her like she was crazy.

"What? Do you not see that truck coming up along side us?" I asked.

"Just do it," she snapped, causing my eyes to narrow before I slammed on the brakes and skidded the car to the left as the truck sailed by us. Artemis shot me a death glare, causing me to roll my eyes and continue moving.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Sam says 7/10ths of a mile and stop," she replied.

"Why?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes.

"7/10ths and stop, Dean," she snapped, causing me to give her a look before looking at the meter in front of me. I watched as it slowly came to 7 and went slightly past, causing me to slam on the brakes and spin the car around. Bringing it back up just slightly, I stopped the car and took my cell phone back from her.

"Dean, you two still there?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"What's it doing?" he asked.

"It's just staring at us. What do we do?" I asked.

"Just what you're doing. Bringing it to you," he replied, causing me to gulp just slightly. Out of the corner of my eye, although I knew she wouldn't show it, I could tell that Artemis was freaking out. She may have that tough girl exterior, but I knew she was freaking out. No doubt about it.

"Dean." I snapped my eyes toward the front of the car and saw that the truck was coming straight for us.

"Just sit back," I said, causing her to give a scoff of a laugh.

"Like that's easier said than done," she said, causing me to roll my eyes. I knew she was putting on this tough girl act. Yes she was tough, but I knew she was scared at this point. Hell. I was scared to since we had this huge killer truck trying to kill us.

"Dean." I barely registered the whimper coming from the small girl before a shriek erupted and I found myself protecting her as the truck hit us. But the sound of no metal hitting metal caused me to open my eyes and realize that the truck had completely vanished without a trace. The trembling in my arms caused me to look down and blink in surprise at what I saw. Blue-green eyes that were normally frozen like ice and were now somewhat teary from this latest escapade. As I frowned, her eyes blinked and she quickly pulled herself out of my arms and ran a hand over her face.

"Artemis…"

"Don't forget that Sam is on the phone," she said as she picked up the cell phone and handed it to me. I gave her a look but took it as I heard my brother's voice.

"Where did it go?" I asked.

"Dean, you're where the church was," he replied.

"What church?" I asked as I looked around. I didn't see any church and by the look on Artemis's face, I knew she didn't see a church either.

"The one Cyrus burned down. And murdered all those kids," he replied.

"Well there isn't much left," I said.

"Church ground is hallowed ground whether it's still there or not. Evil spirits cross over hallowed ground, sometimes they're destroyed. So…I figured maybe….that would get rid of it," he said.

"Maybe? Maybe? What if you were wrong?" I growled, realizing what my little brother was saying.

"Huh. Honestly, that thought hadn't occurred to me," he replied, causing me to look at my cell phone in disbelief before hanging up the phone and giving a look to Artemis, who merely gave me a shrug and handed me the book she had been drawing in. Looking at it, my eyes widened as I realized what she had drawn. She had drawn the entire town in under 5 minutes flat with a huge circle right around the church where we were sitting right now.

"Artemis…"

"I think we should just go get Sam and Kiki. We'll probably be leaving early in the morning, so I'd like to go back to the motel and sleep," she said, avoiding eye contact as she placed her book back into her bag. I stared at her for a second before starting the Impala back up and heading back for Sam and Kiki. Glancing over at Artemis every once in a while, I knew something was up with her. I wasn't stupid. Just because we argued and hated one another, I knew something was bugging her. It was just the fact of what it was.

* * *

"That's so not fair! I'm going to kill you, Sam!" I let out a laugh as I watched my brother tease Artemis with something before she kicked him in the leg, causing him to wince and her to grab whatever it was in his hand that he had been holding up out of her reach.

"She's a cool girl," Cassie said, causing me to shrug.

"She's alright. Huge pain in the fucking ass though," I said, causing her to laugh.

"Whatever you say, Dean. At least this is a better good-bye than last time," she said.

"Yeah. Well maybe this time will be a little less permanent," I said, causing her to sigh and give me a look.

"You know what? I'm a realist. I don't see much hope for us, Dean," she said, causing me to give her a look before giving a slight nod in understanding.

"I've seen stranger things happen," I said.

"But there is still hope for you, Dean. Your heart is slowly coming under the control of someone," she said, causing me to give her a look.

"What?" I asked, causing her to look toward the car where Sam, Kiki, and Artemis were all inside laughing about something. She smiled at something Artemis did before looking back at me, causing me to understand what she was saying.

"No, no, no, no, no. I don't think so," I said, shaking my head.

"You'll thank me one day for telling you that. She's a good girl, Dean. Stubborn, but so are you. Just you wait. So this is good-bye," she said, causing me to shake my head again.

"I will be seeing you, Cassie. I will," I said before I shared a kiss and got into the Impala. I gave her a look and she merely smiled, causing me to look back at Artemis, who gave me a "what?" look, before looking back at a smiling Cassie. Shaking my head, Sam started up the Impala and we were on our way.

"Can I ask what that was about with you and Cassie? With the look you gave me?" I was quiet for a minute before I leaned my head back on the seat and looked at a curious Artemis.

"Do you always ask so many questions?" I asked, causing her to give me a shocked look before glaring at me. I really didn't want to share with her my thoughts and I was not about to do it. So the best thing was to just get an argument started, which is what I guess we do best.

"Do you always have to answer a question with a question?" she asked, causing both Sam and Kiki to start groaning.

"Oh man," Sam said as he and Kiki both realized that they would be stuck with us for a few hours as we both started arguing. If I could distract her from asking me all these questions, it was a good thing. But as for what was going on with her, I was going to find out one way or another and it wasn't going to be pretty if I had to do it the hard way.


	6. Chapter 5: Nightmare

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Nightmare**

"What the hell are you trying to do, Winchester? Freeze us to death? Turn the bloody fucking heat up before I kill you."

"Good morning to you too, princess."

"Like hell it is," I said as I gave Dean a glare and flipped him off before wrapping my jacket around my body tighter. Kiki gave me a nudge with her elbow and I gave her a glare as well before groaning and shutting my eyes to place my head on her shoulder. My head was throbbing and it wasn't because of being up at like 2 o'clock in the morning because Sam decided to have a dream or a nightmare or something like that. It was because….well I actually don't know what it's from. I just woke up out of a dead sleep with a searing pain jolting through my mind. Maybe I was being punished for thinking of ways to sabotage Dean.

"Nah," I said, shaking my head.

"Uh….Artemis? Are you feeling ok?" I opened my eyes and tilted my head up as Kiki gave me a strange look.

"Yeah. I'm thinking that possibly the reason why I have a splitting headache is because I'm being punished for thinking of ways to sabotage Dean Winchester. But unfortunately, that's not possible since I would have been struck dead a long time ago if that was true. So I'm assuming that the reason I have the headache is because Dean is in my presence," I replied.

"Or maybe it's because you fell out of bed just as Sam started going nuts," she said.

"There's always that possibility to," I said with a shrug. Dean merely gave me a look and shook his head before turning his attention back to Sam, who was on the phone talking like crazy.

"Why is Sam freaking out?" I asked, causing her to sigh and roll her eyes. What? I'm not exactly this early of a morning person. Sue me.

"Sam had a nightmare," she replied.

"Again? Doesn't he have the same nightmare a lot of nights?" I asked, causing her to nod.

"Yeah. But this one is different. It was about some guy," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion. A guy?

"What guy?" I asked.

"Who the hell knows. He's never seen the guy before. Why would he have premonitions about some random dude in Michigan?" Dean asked, answering my question first before talking to Sam.

"I don't know. I…Yes I'm here. Jim Miller. Saginaw, Michigan. You have a street address. Got. Thanks. Checks out," he replied as he spoke with some person on the phone before addressing Dean.

"How far are we?" Kiki asked.

"From Saginaw?" Dean asked, causing her to nod.

"If you want to call it that," she replied.

"A couple of hours," he replied, causing Sam to sigh.

"Drive faster," Sam said, causing me to give Kiki a look as she shrugged. This wasn't like Sam at all. Sure he had nightmares, from what he told us about some earlier escapades he and Dean had done, but this was nothing like he had described to us earlier on. I knew he had dreamed about his girlfriend's death and about his old house, but this guy he had never caused me to wonder if maybe he was dreaming of having a connection with someone he didn't know.

"Artemis!" I snapped out of my thoughts really quickly and turned my head to look directly into Sam's eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you ok? You're like leaned forward on the back of my seat staring off into space, which you're probably most likely thinking, and haven't answered me in the last minute or so. You ok?" he asked, causing me to shrug.

"I'm just thinking, which probably doesn't do me any good since I have a severe headache. I woke up with a severe jolt of pain in my head that caused me to tumble out of bed just as you woke up. But other than that, I'm ok. What was it that you wanted?" I asked.

"Just to see if you were ok. It's not like you to just do what you did. Usually you just made a snide remark to Dean and go off to sleep," he replied, causing me to shrug.

"It'll be a while before I go off to sleep with this headache. The Tylenol is in my bag that's in the trunk of the Impala. I can't get it until we stop, which is whenever we get to Saginaw. I'm just a little concerned about this nightmare you had. It doesn't seem like anything you told us about in the earlier days," I said, causing him to shrug this time.

"I know, but I still think we should check it out. The last couple of times have proved to be true. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what this unfolds into," he said, causing me to nod before I leant back into my seat, careful not to disturb Kiki since she had fallen into a sleep. Sighing, I placed my ear pieces into my ears and let my music float into my ears before closing my eyes. I was worried about Sam and I was hoping that this little nightmare of his wasn't going to prove true like his others.

* * *

"But it doesn't make any sense whatsoever, Kiki. Suicide?" I gave my friend a look as we leaned against the Impala as Dean and Sam talked to some of the neighbors. We had just arrived about 10 or 15 minutes ago to discover that the medics were taking a body bag to their car with, probably no doubt, the guy inside it. As we stood talking to one another, I picked up bits and pieces from the neighbors standing around watching and tried to piece them together.

"It could have been a murder. Like someone having control or something. Not necessarily suicide. Or demon like qualities to it," she replied, causing me to shake my head.

"But that would indicate someone having some kind of telekinesis or something. You just don't lock yourself in your car unless you're really suicidal. And from what I'm picking up from these neighbors is that he didn't appear to be suicidal," I said.

"Looks can be deceiving, Artemis. You can't just judge a book by its cover," she said, causing me to roll my eyes. I hated hearing that from her. I was about to say something when I noticed Sam and Dean walking toward us.

"Hey. We got here as fast as we could," Dean said as he looked at Sam.

"Not fast enough," he said, shaking his head.

"So it was suicide?" I asked as I looked at them.

"That's what the neighbors are saying. But it doesn't make any sense to me. Why would I have these premonitions if there wasn't anyway I could have stopped this?" Sam asked, causing me to shrug.

"I don't know. But maybe it was just suicide, Sam. Maybe the guy just killed himself and there is nothing supernatural going on here at all," Dean replied.

"I'm telling you, Dean. I watched it happen. I watched something kill this guy. Someone or something killed the guy, man. It trapped him in the garage," he said, causing me to give a look to Kiki, who returned it with some confusion.

"Like what? A spirit? A ghost? A poltergeist? What?" I asked, causing him to shake his head.

"I don't know what it was. I don't know why I'm having these dreams. I don't know what the hell is happening. Dean, what?" he asked as he looked at his brother, who was just giving him a look. It was a second before he spoke.

"Nothing, man. I'm just worried about you," Dean replied, causing Sam to roll his eyes.

"Well don't look at me like that," he said.

"I'm not looking at you like anything. Although I gotta say, you look like shit," Dean said, causing me to roll my eyes and place myself between the two brothers before a fight or something started between the two.

"Alright guys. Let's not argue. Usually that's for me and Dean to do. Look, we're actually not going to get anywhere tonight. We're just going to have to pick it up in the morning. Talk to the family or whatever to see what we can get out of them about this whole thing," I said.

"Artemis, you saw them just as well as we did. They're devastated. They're not going to want to talk to us," Sam said, causing Dean to look at me and then at his brother before speaking.

"You're right. But I know who they'll want to talk to," Dean said, causing Kiki, myself, and Sam to look at one another. What the hell did he have up his sleeve this time?

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"I gotta say that this has to be a whole new low for us." I merely gave my brother a smirk and a low chuckle as I heard the doorbell ring inside the house. We waited a few seconds before the door swung open to reveal a rather unhappy looking man.

"Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Father Simmons and this is Father Freely. We're new junior priests over at St. Augustine's. May we come in?" I asked. The man gave us a look before giving a slight nod and allowing us to enter.

"We're very sorry for your loss," Sam said.

"It's in these difficult times that the Lord's guidance is much needed," I said, causing the guy to roll his eyes.

"Look. You want to pitch the whole "Lord has a plan" thing? Fine by me. But don't pitch it to me. My brother is dead," he said.

"Roger….please." I turned slightly to see a woman standing there with a tray in her hands watching us. I was assuming the sister or perhaps the wife after what happened the night prior. The man excused himself and we turned our full attention to the woman, who gave a sigh.

"I'm sorry for my brother-in-law. He's…he's just so upset about Jim's death. Uh…would you like some coffee?" she asked, causing me to give a slight nod.

"That would be great," I said, causing her to lead us into what I assumed was the living room.

"Thank you so much for stopping by. The support of the church means so much to us right now," she said as she motioned for us to have a seat.

"Of course. After all, we are all God's children," I said as she handed us cups full of coffee before walking to the room attached to this one. Grabbing the moment, I picked up a tiny hot dog on a stick and shoved it into my mouth, only to have Sam give a scoff.

"What?" I asked, giving him a look.

"Just tone it down a little bit….Father," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes just slightly before straightening up my face as Miss Miller returned to us and took a seat beside me.

"So, Miss Miller, did your husband have any history of depression?" I asked, causing her to give me a look before shaking her head.

"No. Nothing like that. We had our ups and downs just like everyone else. We were happy. I just don't understand how Jim could do something like this," she replied as she started to cry just slightly.

"I'm so sorry you had to find him like that," Sam said.

"Actually…um….our son, Max, found him like that," she said as she gestured to the other room where I saw a young guy sitting in a chair in the corner all by himself. He looked toward us for a slight second before turning away and continued on with his sitting in silence.

"Do you mind if maybe I try to talk to him?" Sam asked, causing me to give him a slight look. He returned the look that went unnoticed by Miss Miller as she gave a nod.

"Oh thank you, Father," she said, causing my brother to give a slight nod before standing and making his way over to the guy. I watched as my brother began talking to him before turning my attention back to her.

"Miss Miller, you have such a lovely home. How long have you lived here?" I asked.

"Um…We moved in about five years ago," she replied, causing me give a slight nod.

"You know, the only problem with these old houses is that I bet you have all kinds of headaches," I said, causing her to give me a slight look of confusion.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Well, weird leaks…uh…electrical shortages…um….odd settling noises at night. That's the kind of….well that kind of thing," I replied, causing her to still give me a slight look of confusion as she shook her head.

"No. Nothing like that. It's been perfect," she replied, causing me to furrow my eyebrows in slight confusion. Perfect? Are you kidding me? Giving a slight sigh, I turned back to her.

"May I use your restroom?" I asked.

"Oh, sure. It's just up the stairs," she replied, causing me to give a nod and grab another little hot dog off the plate before standing up and walking out of the room. Locating the stairs, I made my way upstairs. Just as I reached into the inside of my jacket, I heard my cell phone ring. Knowing it wasn't same, I gave a frustrated sigh when I saw who it was on the caller id.

"This better be good, Summers," I growled as I took the homemade thermal scanner out of the inside pocket of my jacket.

"How can it be any good if we can't find anything? I mean, Kiki is great at finding things on the internet when it comes to this kind of thing, but when she can't find anything, I can find something within a five minute time frame. And I can't find anything. Nothing on this sort of thing happening in any part of this city or even the state for that matter. Are you sure this dream of Sam's is absolutely legit?" she asked, causing me to sigh.

"I don't know, Summers. I haven't found anything since you decided to interrupt me just as I was going to give this place a thermal scan," I replied as I turned the machine on and began to slowly walk down the hall, checking rooms as I went.

"Well excuse me. You're the one that told Kiki and myself to stay behind and see if we couldn't find anything. And we haven't. Absolutely nothing," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, princess, I'm not getting anything on the thermal scanner either. Nothing. I think…." But I stopped talking when I heard footsteps on the stairs. Quickly shutting off the scanner, I shoved it into the inside of my jacket and placed my cell phone behind my back just as someone rounded the corner. I gave a sigh of relief when I realized that it just Sam.

"Anything?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Zip. Summers, we're heading back to the motel," I said before shutting my cell phone and nodding at Sam. We said our good-byes to the Miller family before heading out to the Impala and making our way back to the motel where Artemis and Kiki had books opened all over the table as well as both Kiki and Sam's laptop opened.

"We have absolutely no trail or anything to go off of. We've looked through obituaries ranging over the last couple of years. We've looked through papers from all over the state ranging over the last couple of years. We've looked through these books to see if there was anything about this sort of thing. We even looked through your father's journal and nothing. Absolutely nothing," Kiki said as both Sam and I changed before I dumped a duffle bag of weapons out on one of the beds to start cleaning them.

"Nothing on the house or the land?" I asked as I grabbed a shot gun and began taking it apart.

"Nothing. No graveyards, battlefields, tribal lands, or any kind of atrocity on or near the property," Artemis replied as she got up and got a glass of water.

"It just doesn't make any sense," Sam said, causing me to sigh.

"I told you, Sam. I searched that house up and down. There were no cold spots, no sulfur scent, nada," I said, causing my brother to sigh and turn to look at me.

"And the family said everything was normal?" he asked.

"Well, if there was a demon or poltergeist, don't you think somebody would have noticed something?" Kiki asked as she stood up from the table and walked toward us.

"So what? You think Jim Miller killed himself, and my dream was just some freakish coincidence?" he asked, causing me to shrug just slightly as did Kiki.

"I don't know. I'm pretty sure that there's nothing supernatural about that house," I replied.

"Yeah. Well…." But he stopped talking, causing me to look up at him just slightly with concern as he rubbed his head. He did try to keep talking but he kept wincing and stopping every time he tried. I was about to say something when the sound of glass shattering caused me to tear my eyes away from my brother and focus them on Artemis as she too was holding her head and using the counter to try and keep her balance.

"Dean." I snapped my head back to Kiki and my brother as he yelped.

"Sam?" I asked as I quickly got off the bed and went to my brother just as the sound of books clattered to the floor, causing me to turn my head slightly to see Artemis tumble to the ground with a whimper. Kiki immediately got off the bed and went to her friend as I turned my attention back to my brother.

"Sam? What's going on? Talk to me," I said as I grasped onto my brothers arms. He merely gasped and began to heave in air as he looked at me kind of funnily. What the hell was going on with these two?

**Artemis's POV**

I let out a whimper as pain just jolted through my mind. It was like nothing I had ever felt before in my entire life. It was actually worse than the less time when I woke up from pain jolting through my mind.

"Artemis? Come on, Art. You're scaring us." I could hear Kiki talking to me, but my head was pounding too much for me to even respond. The pain was dying down, but the pounding was still there. I could feel it.

"Kiki, you get Sam to the car. Come on, princess. Up we go." I wanted to resist when I felt Dean scoop me up into his arms, but with the pounding in my brain still there, I simply allowed him to carry me out to the Impala and set me down gently next to Kiki in the back. I opened my eyes slightly and gave him a look, which caused him to merely raise an eyebrow before shutting the door and getting into the driver's side. Was he just gentle with me? Seriously?

"Roger Miller. No, no. Just the address please. Okay. Thanks. 450 West Grove, apartment 1120," Sam said as he hung up his cell phone and looked over at Dean.

"You okay?" he asked as he looked at Sam.

"What's wrong with Sam?" I asked as I caught Dean's eye in the rearview mirror. I was really beyond confused right now. I knew why they had been staring at me in worry but they were worried about Sam as well. What the hell was going on?

"Sam had another nightmare. He saw Roger Miller being killed," Kiki replied, causing me to give her a look.

"Another nightmare?" I asked.

"Yeah. But apparently you must have had some kind of nightmare as well or something, princess. Did you see the same thing?" Dean asked, causing me to give him a look of confusion. A nightmare? A vision?

"What are you talking about? I didn't have any nightmare or any vision. I had a horrible pain just jolt through my mind. It was like sitting in the electric chair or something but with the electricity just shooting through my brain and not my entire body. It's the worst thing I have ever felt in my entire life," I replied, causing Dean and Kiki to share a look as I looked at Sam. I watched as he stared at me for a second before turning his head to look out the mind. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but hissed when I realized what a mistake that was.

"You going to be ok?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the concern," I replied as I gave Sam a small smile. He gave me another look before turning his attention to his brother.

"Dean, I'm scared, man. These nightmares weren't bad enough, now I'm seeing things when I'm awake? And these visions or whatever, they're getting…."

"More intense. And painful?" I asked, causing him to turn and look at me once again before nodding slightly. I gave him a look and sighed as I shook my head slowly. Something wasn't adding up to his nightmares and my brain malfunctioning.

"Come on, man. It'll be alright. You'll be fine," Dean said.

"But what is it about the Millers? Why am I connected to them? Why am I watching them die? Why the hell is this happening to me? And why the hell is Artemis having as much pain as I am?" he asked.

"I don't know, Sam. But we'll figure it out. We face the unexplainable every single day. This is just another thing," Dean replied, causing Sam to shake his head.

"No. It's never been us. It's never been in the family like this. Tell the truth. You can't tell me this doesn't freak you out. Poor Kiki is rattled by what just happened to her friend. You can't honestly tell me that this is nothing. You can't honestly tell me that this doesn't freak you out," he said, causing Dean to remain quiet before speaking.

"This doesn't freak me out," Dean said, causing me to raise an eyebrow? This doesn't freak him out? What was he? Crazy? Nuts? Fucking psycho? I would never understand Dean Winchester in a million years.

"Are you sure you're ok?" I turned my attention over to Kiki and nodded.

"The pain is subsiding and I'm ok. I have never felt like that before in my entire life," I replied with a shrug as I turned my gaze toward Sam, who was just staring out the window watching the scenery with a look to his eyes. I couldn't tell what it was but I knew it was something. Especially when his eyes locked with mine against the glass. There was something there in his eyes that made me shiver just slightly. I don't know what it was, but it was something. Like he seemed to know something or knew that I was holding a dark secret in my heart. I went to say something, but stopped when I felt the Impala stop and Dean shut it off.

"Guys, what…" But Kiki never finished her sentence as Dean and Sam started shouting and getting out of the car. I gave Kiki a look and within seconds, we were out of the car and watching as both boys tried to stop some man from going into his apartment. I realized that this must have been the guy they were trying to save or something. Quickly looking both ways, we crossed the street just as the guy shut the door in their faces and headed up the stairs of the apartment building we were now standing outside of.

"What is going on?" I asked as I looked at both of them. But Dean ignored me as he beckoned Sam to follow him, in which Sam did. Looking at one another, both Kiki and I shook our heads before quickly following after them. They were heading down an alley way beside the building, causing me to curse as I realized that it would require probably the fire escape. Right I was as I rounded the corner just in time to see Sam jump onto the ladder, Dean not far behind. Shaking my head in frustration, I leapt up onto the ladder using the wall across from it and quickly followed behind Dean.

"Does somebody want to tell me what the hell we're doing?" I asked, causing Dean to scoff.

"That headache of yours must really be killing your brain cells, princess. Weren't you listening in the car when Sam said something about Roger Miller being the next to be killed?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm sorry that it wasn't my fault that this happened to me, ok? I just…." But I stopped talking when I heard a thud, causing me to stop running and look up. My hand immediately covered my mouth to stop from screaming out loud as I saw blood splattered along a window and what I think was a head inside the flower bed on the window sill. Watching Sam and Dean go up another flight of stairs and Dean telling Sam to wipe away fingerprints as he went inside only confirmed what Sam had saw once again. Roger Miller had been killed.

* * *

"But it doesn't make any sense, Sam. The Miller family being cursed? You seeing their deaths? It doesn't make any sense."

"I know this, Artemis, but I saw their deaths and now we think it might go after Max. It's gone after all the men in this family, so it'll probably go after Max," Sam said as he came out of the bathroom dressed in his "Father" outfit to go see the Miller family with Dean once again. After last nights escapades, I didn't know what to believe at this time. It was like Sam's nightmares were really coming true. It was like he could predict the future or something.

"What makes you so sure, Sam? How are you even positive that it's a curse? For all you know it could be someone within the family doing this," I said, causing him to sigh as he shook his head.

"Artemis, we can't rule out all possibilities. We have to check them out before we can rule them out. I know you're usually always right with instinct, but something tells me that it's something much more than just somebody killing this family off," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"But you just said so yourself, Sam. My instincts are usually always right. And my instinct is telling me that this is something that is not curse worthy. It's got to be someone in that family," I said, causing him to turn around to look at me.

"I understand this, Artemis. But you're not the only one with something that is always right. I'm having nightmares of people dying. I had nightmares of my girlfriend's death weeks before it actually happened. I had nightmares of our old house and this family we had to save before it was too late. Now I'm having nightmares of a family that I don't even know and each time I have them, whatever happens in them happens to the people that were inside my nightmares. Something you wouldn't understand," he said, causing me to stand up from the bed I was sitting on and glare at him.

"Not understand? You think you're the only one with nightmares, Sam? I have dreamt about my past since I was 5 years old. The night my mother was killed, Sam, was nothing I had ever witnessed before in my life. Just like these pains I'm having in my brain. For some reason, every time you have a nightmare, I get the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my entire life jolting across my mind," I snapped.

"What? What the hell are you talking about? I only know of this one time," he said as he gave me a look of confusion.

"I woke up several minutes before you the night you had the nightmare of Jim Miller's death. It was like someone was trying to electrocute me or something it was so horrible. And the same thing happened again when you had the nightmare of Roger Miller's death. I don't know what's happening to me anymore than you know what's happening to you, Sam, but I've got to live with it. Just like I have to live with everything else that's happened to me since my mother's death," I said, causing him to look even more confused. He stared at me for about another minute before he spoke.

"Do you think we may have a connection somehow?" he asked.

"How is that even possible, Sam? I have never met you in my entire life until a couple of weeks ago at the asylum. If there was any connection, how could that be?" I asked.

"You said you've had nightmares since you were five. Since the night your mother died. How long have you been doing this job?" he asked.

"Since I was 14. Right when I moved back from England," I replied.

"Why did you get into it, Art?" he asked, causing me to sigh and run a hand over my face. I really didn't want to discuss it with him right now. Now was so not the time.

"Come on, Art. You know there has to be something there if you're suffering because of my nightmares. There has to be a connection somewhere. Why did you get into this game?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"To find my mother's killer," I replied as I gave him a look.

"How did your mother die?" he asked.

"She was murdered when I was five. She died trying to save my little brother," I replied, causing him to give me a look.

"A little brother? You had a sibling?" he asked.

"Yeah. At one time I did. Until I was eight when he died. Look, where are you going with all of this?" I asked as I gave him a look of confusion.

"Artemis, do you know how your mother died?" he asked.

"Someone set fire to our house. All I remember was my mother up on the ceiling of my little brother's nursery, bleeding from her stomach. Like someone had taken a knife to her and sliced her open. Then there was fire and the only thing I can remember is my dad carrying my brother and myself to safety outside the house. I may have only been five at the time, but I wasn't stupid to know that someone had sliced my mother open and left her to die," I replied, causing Sam to look at me like I had gone nuts. And I really wasn't liking that look.

"Yeah. Like you're going to believe me. And I can't believe I even told you that," I said as I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. As I turned to sit back down on the bed, I felt a gentle tug on my arm and spun to see Sam looking at me in sympathy. And it wasn't the normal "I'm sorry you lost your mother" sympathy.

"Artemis, Dean and I lost our mother the exact same way," he said, causing me to look at him in shock.

"What?" I asked as I gave him a confused look.

"I was only 6 months old when the same thing happened to my mother. My dad told my brother and I that our mother was pinned to the ceiling and her stomach slit open right above my crib in my nursery. My dad said that my mother caught on fire and when he gave me to Dean to carry me outside, he tried to save my mother. But it was too late. The entire nursery was caught on fire. It was the same way my girlfriend Jessica died. Pinned to the ceiling with her stomach slit open and she caught on fire in our apartment. But that was several weeks prior to even meeting you and Kiki in the asylum," he replied, causing me to give him a look as the wheels began to spin in my head. This episode wasn't the first time I had ever had these pains. They were….

"I've been suffering because of you," I said as I looked at him in shock.

"What?" he asked as he gave me a look of confusion.

"This isn't the first time I've had these pains in my head. I had them several times prior to this. Prior to the asylum," I replied, causing him to look confused before his facial expression changed to understanding.

"You're suffering because of me. You're having those pains because we suffered the same attack on our families. On our mothers and other people in our lives," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"My brother and my dad died for another reason that can wait for later," I said, causing him to give me a look.

"Artemis…."

"Sam, one thing at a time. Please," I said, causing him to sigh.

"Alright. Alright. We'll deal with this first. We have to tell Dean and Kiki about…."

"No," I said, shaking my head as he gave me a look of surprise.

"Art…."

"No Sam. Dean and Kiki can not know anything that we're talking about. This has to be between us," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"I can't just keep this from Dean, Artemis. This is my brother we're talking about. And Kiki…."

"Kiki doesn't know everything," I said, causing him to give me a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about? Every time we talk about family, Kiki always tells Dean to shut up when he speaks to you about it," he said.

"That's because she knows that I don't have any family left. My family is completely gone, Sam. Dead and buried. She knows my mother died in a fire and she knows my brother and father died when I was 8. She knows I began hunting the supernatural when I was young, but she doesn't know the full extent to anything. I've only known her since I was 18, Sam. Three years I've known her and she doesn't fully know everything that is going on. She doesn't know I'm searching for that demon. I told you I was cursed back at Cassie's place, Sam. I'm searching for that one thing that will break the curse. But that is more for another time. Sam, she doesn't know," I said, causing him to scoff.

"So you've been carrying this dark secret for how long? 16 years? And you just want to keep your best friend in the dark? Who are you?" he asked, causing me to scoff in frustration.

"Someone who wants her personal life kept under wraps, Sam. I can't even believe I told you what was happening. But the only reason it's come to life is because I'm suffering pain attacks because of you. Because apparently we're connected in some odd and unusual way. Kiki only hunts with me because she likes it. She likes the thrill of hunting the supernatural rather than having a desk job or something back in California where her family is. She doesn't know what I'm actually up to and she's not going to know. And you're not going to tell her," I replied.

"And what happens when you find what you're looking for, Artemis? Are you going to go after it alone? Are you forgetting that it's the same demon or whatever that killed mine and Dean's mother as well?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"I know, Sammy. But what happens when if I were to bring Kiki into this, Sam? I can't lose another person in my life. Kiki is all I have and I'll be damned if I'm going to lose her by bringing her into something that doesn't concern her," I snapped.

"By not telling her is only going to hurt you in the end, Artemis. And I'm going to get my ass kicked by my brother for not telling him when this whole thing unravels. Artemis, you're slowly killing yourself and you don't even realize it. It'll be too late before you notice what it's doing to you," he said, causing me to shake my head and try hard not to let the tears I had forming in my eyes fall.

"I know this, Sam. But it's just not about the demon that killed my mother. I'm cursed, Sam. I have to find the thing that holds onto this curse before I lose someone else in my life. You don't understand what it's like to wake up from nightmares your entire life. You think having nightmares of your girlfriend or someone guy you don't know is scary? Nerve-wracking? Unexplainable? Try living with it for 16 years. I have had nightmares of my family's death since I was five years old. I lost everyone that I loved Sam and I swear on my mother and my father's grave that I am not going to lose Kiki by bringing her into this. And don't you make me. I deal with your brother on a daily basis but I will not deal with you in the same manner. I have only so much sanity left in me, Sam. Don't you take it away from me," I said as I could no longer hold back the tears and let them slowly drop down my cheeks.

"Artemis…"

"Please Sam," I whispered, causing him to look at me before drawing me into his arms. I protested but he kept a firm hold on me as he wrapped his arms around me in a protective manner.

"It's ok to let emotions go," he whispered against my ear, causing my grip on him to tighten as the tears just wouldn't stop coming. I could feel myself starting to unravel and I couldn't stop it. One part of a heavy burden I carried seemed to lifted slightly off my shoulders as I realized that I was not the only one looking for what killed my mother. I was not the only one.

"Hey Sam. Come on, man. We need….oh." Turning my head just slightly, I could see Dean standing in the doorway watching us with slight concern as Kiki stood beside him, her face unreadable from where I was at. Knowing what was going on, I somehow managed to get out of Sam's grip and move myself into the bathroom, where I shut and locked the door. I could hear Dean and Sam talking as I slid down the bathroom door to the floor and I buried my head in my lap the second that I heard the motel door close. I couldn't believe what was happening. I was beginning to unravel and I hated it. Never before had I felt like this. Sam was slowly breaking away the tough exterior I had been carrying for the last 16 years and I just didn't know what to do. I was at a loss for words and thoughts. Sighing, I pushed myself off the floor and splashed water across my face before leaving the bathroom to find Kiki sitting at the table with her laptop.

"Hey," I said as I sat across from her. The only response I got was a glare, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion. What was going on?

"You ok?" I asked.

"Never better," she replied, turning her attention back to the lap top. I shook my head and knew something was up.

"Come on, Kiki. I'm your best friend. I know something is wrong with you. What's up?" I asked, causing her to slam her lap top shut and look at me.

"Why should I discuss it with you? I'm sure that Dean would find it absolutely ravishing that his enemy is hanging on his brother," she replied before she got up and walked toward the bed. I stared at her for a second before realizing what she was getting at.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Do not even accuse me of that. There is nothing going on with me and Sam," I said, causing her to scoff.

"I'm sure. That's why you were all hung up on Sam," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I was not hung up on Sam, Kiki. If you haven't noticed, my eyes are blood shot because I've been crying. Would you rather have me go to Dean than Sam?" I asked, causing her to snort with laughter. I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"You're such a fucking bitch right now, Kiki! I hate you right now. How could you be saying this right now to me?! I know you fucking like Sam! I've known since probably day fucking one or something! I wasn't trying to jump him or anything! I have fucking bloody feelings too you know! Go to fucking hell!" I yelled before I stormed out of the motel and slammed the door behind me. A few minutes ago I was in absolute shambles and now I was literally pissed off. How the fuck can she do that to me? What was wrong with her? What was happening to me?

* * *

"You seem awfully quiet. Dean made a remark to you and you just completely ignored him like it was nothing. Are you ok?" I glanced up at Sam as we got out of the Impala. I gave him a look before walking past him and following Dean. I just wasn't in the mood to be talking to anyone right now.

"Hey. Don't ignore me," he said as he grabbed a hold of my arm and spun me around. Dean and Kiki stopped what they were doing and looked back at us.

"Keep walking," Sam growled, causing the pair to give him a look before continuing to walk. He turned his gaze to me and I momentarily flinched at it before turning my face emotionlessly.

"What is wrong with you? When Dean and I left you were in tears or something. Now you're being a completely bitch like nothing even happened. What is going on with you?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Why does something always have to be wrong with me, Sam? Why can't you just accept that this is who I am?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes this time.

"Because this is not who you are. You know this is not who you are. I saw a glimpse of who Artemis Summers really is earlier. I don't know what's happened to you in just that short amount of time," he replied.

"Sam, we shouldn't be talking. Not until the storm has settled," I said, causing him to give me a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"Kiki thinks there is something going on between us and I don't need her anymore pissed off at me than she already is," I replied, causing him to scoff and shake his head.

"That's what all this is about? The ignoring me? All because Kiki's pissed off at you for talking to me? Artemis, you talk to me every single god damn day," he said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"Not like that Sam. Not like that," I said, causing him to give me a look of confusion. I scoffed and ran a hand over my face in frustration.

"She likes you, Sam. Not just as a friend. She thinks that I was trying to charm you under some spell or something when she and Dean found us like we were earlier. I tried to explain it that nothing is going on with us, but she's like me I guess. Stubborn and doesn't want to look at things that are good. I guess maybe we're more alike than we think," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"That's what this is all about? Artemis, I'm not interested in you. You're more my brother's type than me. Don't tell your friend, but she's more my type than my brother's," he said, causing me to give him a look before my lips curved up into a smile.

"My, my, my. Does Sammy have a little crush on Kiki?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Artemis, I do have to move on. Jess wouldn't want me to go on with my life lonely forever. Yes I still want to find her killer, but I also have to move on with my life as well. And it's Sam," he replied, causing me to crack a genuine smile.

"That's great, Sam. I have suspected something from the beginning, but now I know for sure. It's hard to move on. I know it's hard. But you're doing good. Kiki's a great girl. Just make sure you treat her right whenever you have the balls to ask her out. I'll be kicking your bloody ass if you don't," I said, causing him to chuckle.

"You won't have any problems there. I'll treat her right. Just like you said. Whenever I have the balls to ask her out," he said, causing me to laugh.

"Thank you," I said, causing him to give me a nod.

"I guess maybe we should catch up with the other two before they think we might elope or something," he said, causing me to laugh at the thought. Although I thought Sam was a great guy, we just wouldn't work together like that. We made a better pair of friends than anything.

"Oh hey Sam?"

"Yeah Art?" he asked as he stopped walking to look back at me.

"I think I've earned the privilege to call you Sammy, Sammy," I replied, causing him to roll his eyes and shake his head. I gave him a grin and hurried to catch up with him. We found the other two waiting for us just up the street and I pulled Kiki aside as Sam and Dean headed over to talk to a neighbor in the old neighborhood that the Millers had lived in. Apparently from what I had picked up from their conversation was that something was going on with Max and we needed to figure out what before something else happened.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hey. Don't pull a me. Look. We need to talk," I replied, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Why the hell would I want to talk to you?" she asked.

"Because Sam is not interested in me. This whole thing doesn't have anything to do with us liking one another. One, Sam is so not my type and I'm not his type. I'm more like a little sister or something to him. Second, I know for a fact that he likes you just like you like him. I'm not stupid, Kiki. I'm very observant. Third, Sam can never be more than just a friend. I just don't see him like that and you should know that I would never do anything like that to hurt you. Even if I did like Sam, I would never do that to you. Kiki, Sam is like my comfort bubble or something. He was comforting me earlier about something we were talking about. I have a hard exterior, Kiki, but Sam is just busting his way through it and pretty soon that hard exterior is not going to be there anymore. And I'm going to need Sam more than ever to be there for that comfort. He's the first person since my parents death 13 and 16 years ago that is a real comfort to me. I'm sorry you thought it was something else, but it's nothing but comfort. I promise you nothing more," I said, causing her to give me a look. It was a look that I knew all too well and before I knew what was happening, she was crushing me into a hug.

"Ok, ok, ok. I got the point, Kiki. Air please," I said, causing her to let go of me and give me a sheepish grin.

"Oh Art. I'm so sorry. I just…."

"I know, Kiki. Your last boyfriend cheated on you. I know. It's alright. Just think next time before you say something," I said, causing her to laugh.

"I'm sorry, Art. I will definitely think next time. So he's interested in me? Seriously?" she asked, causing me to shake my head and laugh as well.

"Yes. But I would advise letting Sam make the first move. Since Jess, he's kind of been….ya know. So let him make the first move. And then do whatever it is you do when you like a guy. Or some….."

"Artemis?" But the only response I gave her was a whimper as I clutched at my head, pain shooting through it tremendously. Sam was having another vision and it was strong this time. The pain was excruciating and I felt myself fall against Kiki as she grabbed onto me to keep me from falling hard on the concrete ground. However, this time I saw a guy. He was just standing there staring. Staring at something that I couldn't make out. It was….Max Miller.

"Artemis!" I let out a cry as the pain increased when I felt a hand touch my head, but it died down a second later, leaving me with nothing but a pounding headache like all the times before. Shifting my eyes open, I saw Sam leaning against Dean as they both look at me in worry, Sam's hand against the side of my head.

"Help me get them into the car, Kiki," Dean said, causing Kiki to nod and gently pull me up into a standing position. Sam gave me a look and I nodded, causing him to sigh as an understanding gesture. Relaxing against the backseat of the Impala, I rubbed me temples as Dean step on the gas and sped down the street.

"It's been Max this entire time, Sam," I said, causing Sam to look back at me as I stopped rubbing my temples and looked back at him.

"Did you…."

"Yes. But only the ending. He was staring at something. He was just staring," I said with a slight nod.

"Wait. You had a vision?" Kiki asked, causing me to shake my head.

"A slight memory but that was about it. I don't know why," I replied.

"And you two are absolutely sure about this?" Dean asked, causing me to nod as Sam spoke.

"Yeah. I saw him," he replied.

"How's he pulling it off?" Kiki asked.

"I don't know. It looked like telekinesis or something," he replied.

"So he's a psychic? He's a…a spoon bender?" Dean asked.

"I didn't even realize it, but this whole time, he was there. He was outside of the garage when his dad died. He was in the apartment when his uncle died. These visions, this whole time, I wasn't connecting to the Millers. I was connecting to Max. The thing I don't get is why. I guess maybe we're alike," he replied, causing me to snort with laughter.

"Alike? The dude is nothing like you. Sammy, this guy is killing off his family members like their flies or something, which is something I don't understand. Why is he doing it?" I asked.

"The neighbor in their old neighborhood said that the father and the uncle would just wail on the kid. The father usually got drunk and beat the kid. The step-mother usually just watched it happen. Never lifted a finger. And since when do you call him Sammy?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I've earned the privilege. But that still doesn't explain why he's having these connections with Max," I said.

"Well, we both have psychic abilities. We both…."

"You both what? Sam, this kid is a monster. He's already killed two people and he's gunning for a third," Dean said.

"Well, with what the kid has been through with the beatings and…."

"And what? Sam, this kid is gunning for a third if we don't stop him. There is no justification for wanting to kill off your family members. He's just like everyone else. We have to end him," Dean said as he pulled to a stop, causing me to sit forward and look at Sam with shock. Was Dean saying what I think he was saying?

"We can't kill him, Dean," Sam said.

"Then what? Hand him over to the cops and say "Here you go officer. Lock him up. He kills with his mind." Are you really that insane?" he asked.

"Forget it, Dean. We're not killing him. He's a person. We're not going to kill him. Promise me you'll follow my lead on this one," Sam replied, causing me to look between the two brothers. They both were right but they were both wrong. Either way someone was going to get hurt.

"Alright. Fine. But I'm not letting him hurt anyone else," he said, leaning over to the glove compartment and pulling out a gun that he pocketed in the waist of his jeans. I gave Sam a look as he looked at me before shrugging and getting out of the Impala. I gave a sigh and got out of the Impala to follow.

"I really think you girls should stay here," Dean said.

"No way. I know what's going on here, Dean. A hell of a lot better than you or Kiki. If Sam's doing what I think he's doing, then I'm the only person that's going to be able to help Sam," I said, causing both Kiki and Dean to look at one another. I simply rolled my eyes and followed behind Sam as he started heading toward the house. I didn't exactly like what was going on, but I knew I would have to deal with it. I skidded to the side and allowed Dean to get behind Sam before grabbing onto Kiki's arm and following right behind the boys as they threw open the door and hurried inside the house.

"Fathers?" I would have laughed at the woman's question to the boys, but it would have to do for another time as I shut the door and stood behind Dean, watching Max as he eyed us.

"Uh…Max, could we….uh…talk to you outside for just one second?" Sam asked.

"About what?" he asked, causing me to eye him before the woman as she looked at Kiki and myself with confusion and curiosity. I could tell she was curious by the situation but also confused as why we broke into her house uninvited. Or well at least us girls anyways since she probably thought that Dean and Sam were priests or something from that church they attended or something like that.

"It's…it's private. I wouldn't want to bother your mother with it. We won't be long at all, though. I promise," Sam said. Max was quiet until he nodded.

"Okay," he said, causing Sam to let out a sigh of relief.

"Great," Sam said, causing Dean to start heading toward the door as Max walked toward us. However, I grew eerily suspicious as Max kind of slowed down and turned his head just slightly as Dean started pulling open the door. Turning my head, I saw the mirror and my eyes widened when I saw the gun in Dean's jeans.

"Dean!" But my yell was cut short as I found myself slamming against the wall of the stairs, blinds beginning to close rapidly throughout the house.

"They're not priests!" I shakily lifted my head as I saw Dean draw his gun but have it taken away from him by Max and his telekinesis.

"Max, what's happening?" his mother asked.

"Shut up," he replied as I slowly got to my feet, waving off Kiki as she tried to help me up.

"Max, what is going on?" she asked again, only to find herself slamming against the kitchen counter with such force that I was surprised you only lay unconscious on the floor.

"I said shut up," he said, starting to get choked up.

"Max, calm down," Sam said.

"Who are you people?" he asked.

"We just want to talk to you," Sam replied.

"Yeah right. That's why you brought this," he said, holding the gun toward us.

"That was a mistake. Alright? So was lying about who we were. But no more lying, Max. Just please….Just hear me out," Sam said.

"About what?" he asked.

"I saw you do it. I saw you kill your dad and your uncle before it happened," Sam replied.

"W..What?" he asked, causing me to gently grasp the arm of Dean's coat to get a steady balance of myself as I started to feel slightly dizzy.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, causing me to nod.

"I'll be ok," I replied.

"Let me try. We'll talk. Just me and you. We'll have everyone else leave the house," Sam said, causing us to look over at Sam like his was nuts.

"Sam…" But Kiki stopped speaking as the house began to shake.

"Nobody leaves this house," Max said, causing me to grasp Dean's arm just a little bit harder in slight fear.

"And nobody has to. Alright? They'll just…They'll just go upstairs," Sam said.

"I'm not leaving you guys alone," Dean said, causing Sam to shake his head.

"Yes you are, Dean. Look, Max….You're in charge here, alright? We all know that. Nobody is going to do anything, but I'm talking five minutes here, man," he said, causing me to let a whimper escape as I felt a headache coming on with the shaking of the house once again.

"Five minutes. Go," Max said as he pointed the gun at Dean. I saw Sam give a nod to Dean, causing me to let go of him so that he could go toward the kitchen and pick up the woman. Gently picking the woman up, he came back toward us and headed for the stairs. Looking at Sam, he gave a nod toward the stairs and I shook my head.

"Artemis, please go. It's alright. I've got it. Help Dean and Kiki. It's alright," he said, causing me to look over at Max as he slowly pointed the gun toward me. Swallowing my stubbornness, I gave Sam a nod and headed up the stairs to where Dean and Kiki were. I hope he was right about what he was doing.

**Dean's POV**

Gently setting Miss Miller on the bed, I gave a nod to Kiki as she handed me a wet washcloth, causing me to gently press it against Miss Miller's temple where she had hit the kitchen counter pretty hard.

"You think Sam will be alright?" she asked.

"I hope so." I looked up as Artemis came into the bedroom and gently shut the door behind her before she stood by the window looking out. Knowing that something was wrong, I motioned for Kiki to take over and went to stand next to Artemis.

"You know something," I said, causing her to look at me. She studied me for a second before turning her gaze back to the window with a chuckle.

"Not everything is for you to know, Dean," she said.

"I know you know something, Artemis. Don't play stupid. You seem to get pains in your head every time Sammy has a vision. So I know there is something going on between you two," I said, causing her to look back at me.

"We share a connection, Dean. Just like Max and Sam. But my life is so screwed up at this point that the connection is nothing more than pain for me. And I don't know why. That's why Kiki was so upset earlier. Because Sam was comforting me because I didn't know what was going on with me. Why I was suffering because of him," she said.

"You're lying and I know it," I said, causing her to shake her head.

"Believe what you want, Dean. It's the truth. For the most part," she said. I was about to say something when the door slowly started to creak open before fully opening all the way to reveal Max. Sensing Artemis's immediate discomfort, I pushed her behind me as he began to walk into the room and the door shut behind him. I made to step toward him but found myself slamming into the wall behind me.

"Dean!" I groaned as I tried to push myself up off the ground at the girls' yells. As I shakily stood up, I saw the gun starting to float toward Kiki before cocking and turning toward Miss Miller. Regaining my balance, I pushed Kiki behind me toward Artemis, only to step back just slightly as the gun was put on me.

"Stay back. This is not about you," he said.

"You're gonna kill her, you gotta go through me first," I said. He stared at me for a second before speaking.

"Okay," he said. Just as I thought the gun was going to be shot, the door sung open and Sam rushed in.

"No. Don't. Don't. Please. Please Max. We can help you. Alright? But this? What you're doing is not the solution. It's not going to fix anything," Sam said. I could tell that he was shaking just slightly, but I didn't move a muscle in fear that anyone of us or Miss Miller could be shot.

"You're right," Max said before the gun slowly turned and shot him in the head, causing me to jump slightly at the sight. I couldn't believe it. The kid had actually gone and shot himself instead of one of us or his step-mother.

"Dean. Sam." I whirled around at the sound of Kiki's voice and my eyes widened as I saw he knelt down next to an unconscious Artemis. Rushing to their side, I gently tapped Artemis's cheeks and breathed a sigh of relief when they began to flutter up.

"Oh thank god," Kiki said as I pulled Artemis into a sitting position. She gave me a small look of confusion before her eyes widened at the sight of Max dead on the floor.

"You had another one, didn't you?" Sam asked, causing her to stare up at him for a second before nodding.

"Another headache?" Kiki asked, causing me to look between my brother and Artemis. Something was seriously going on with the two of them and I wanted to know what it was.

"Can we not talk about it right now?" Artemis asked as I helped her to her feet, keeping a grasp on her so she could get her balance. I was about to say something when Sam spoke up.

"Yeah. I agree. Let's discuss this later," Sam said, causing me to give my brother a look. He merely looked at me before digging into his pocket for his cell phone to call the police. I sighed and shook my head as I looked down at Artemis. I knew she felt my gaze but refused to look up at me. She knew that I knew something was up and I wanted to know what it was. Those two were going to have to come clean sometime soon.

* * *

"I don't want it."

"You should take it. You still have that headache from earlier."

"But I don't want to take it. You're just trying to keep me drugged up. I bet Dean put you up to that so that he probably doesn't have to hear me on the way to our next location where ever that may be."

"Just take it. It'll make you feel better." I watched with amusement as Sam finally got Artemis to take a stronger headache pill before continuing to pack up my stuff. Artemis and Sam really seemed like two peas in a pod, which made me wonder just slightly about Kiki. I had kept what Artemis said about Kiki and Sam after the whole scarecrow episode in the back of my mind and thought about it whenever I had the chance. Artemis was right that the two were spending a lot of time together, but what was going on with Sam and Artemis had me concerned just a bit.

"Dean, I've been thinking."

"Well that's never a good thing," I said as Sam walked back into the room after packing his things into the Impala.

"I'm serious. I've been thinking why would this demon, or…whatever it is….why it would kill mom, and Jessica, and Max's mother, you know? What does it want?" he asked, causing me to shrug as I continued to pack.

"No idea," I said.

"Well do you think that maybe it was after us? After Max and me?" he asked, causing me to stop what I was doing and look at him.

"Why would you think that?" I asked.

"I mean, either telekinesis or premonitions. We both had abilities. Uh, maybe…maybe it was after us for some reason," he replied.

"Sam, if it wanted you, it would have just taken you. Okay? It's not your fault. It's not about you," I said.

"Then what is it about?" he asked.

"It's about the damn thing that did this to our family. The thing that we're gonna find. The thing that we're going to kill. And that's all," I said, continuing my packing.

"Uh…there's something else too," he said, causing me to sigh in frustration. When was this ever going to end.

"Oh jeez. What now? You're going to tell me it's going after Artemis? Wants to rip all of her organs out of her fucking body and leave her there to die? You're going to tell me that you and her have a connection to some of this somehow? What?" I asked, causing him to sigh.

First of all, what happened between me and Artemis is for her to tell you and Kiki. Not me. What happened to her she wants kept quiet. She doesn't want people to know about her pain. So if you want to know what's going on with her, ask her yourself. But I can guarantee you that she's not going to open up to. And second of all, with that big cabinet against the door? I uh….I moved it," he replied.

"You got a lot of upper body strength than I gave you credit for," I said.

"No man. I moved it. Like…Max," he said, causing me to stop what I was doing and look at him. Was he serious? Wanting to know if he was serious, I picked up a nearby spoon and held it out to him.

"Bend this," I said, causing him to turn around and give me a look of disbelief.

"I can't turn it on and off, Dean," he said.

"Then how did you do it?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just…I saw you die and it came out of me. I don't know. Like a punch or something. Like a freak adrenaline thing," he replied, causing me to let the spoon clatter back onto the table and continue to pack.

"I'm sure that it won't happen again," I said.

"Yeah. Right. Aren't you worried, man? Aren't you worried that I could turn into Max or something?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Nope. No way. You know why?" I asked.

"No. Why?" he asked.

"Because you've got one advantage Max didn't have," I replied, causing him to scoff.

"Dad? Because Dad's not here, Dean," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"No. Me. As long as I'm around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you," I said, causing him to look at me before nodding just slightly. He was about to say something when Artemis walked into the room looking rather annoyed.

"Come on you two. We haven't got all night or whatever. The next place, where ever that may be, is waiting for us to kill something," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"And you've got her and Kiki. Although Artemis would probably be the first to go on my list if I was you," I said, causing her to roll her eyes this time.

"Oh you're real bloody funny, Winchester. Now I can see why, although she thinks you're hot, Kiki prefers Sam over you. He's more charming than you," she said, shaking her head as she turned and walked out the door to the Impala. I merely shook my head and looked at Sam.

"She's going to drive me insane that girl is," I said as he shook his head.

"She's going through a rough time, Dean. She's human. I've seen it. You just have to give her time to open up. If you were nicer to her every once in a while, she'd open up to you and tell you what's going on with her," Sam said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"No chick flick moments, please. Now then. I know what we need to do about your premonitions. I know where we have to go," I said, causing him to give me a look.

"Where?" he asked.

"Vegas," I replied before giving him a smug look. He stared at me for a second before scoffing and heading toward the car. I gave a laugh as I shut off the light to the room and threw my bag into the car before getting in. I turned my head slightly and observed the three in my car as Sam was watching the girls argue about something that was on Kiki's lap top, causing me to shake my head and start up the car. Artemis, sensing my look, looked up for a split second and I caught the look in her eyes. There was something there that wasn't always there before. I didn't know what it was but it was something and I was going to find out what it was before something happened to her.


	7. Chapter 6: The Benders

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

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**Author's Note****:** I'm absolutely glad that people are enjoying this story. Thank you to all who are reviewing. Positive feedback is absolutely great since it fuels the hunger to get the chapters out more quickly. On a second note, I have a feeling some may think something maybe going on between Artemis and Sam, which is true, but it is not what some may think since the summary kind of gives way to who she gets involved with. But as someone has pointed out, Artemis is beginning to unravel and Sam will definitely play a huge role as the unraveling becomes more intense in later chapters. So please continue to enjoy the story and remember that reviews are always welcome. Enjoy!

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**The Benders**

"There is like absolutely nothing on the radar. Nothing. No suicides that could possibly be murderous ghost deaths, nothing suspicious, etc. Nothing. Are they seriously giving us a break or something?"

"Kiki, you're going to ruin it. Knock on wood or something. And could you not shout?" I asked as I opened my eyes slightly to look at her. She merely gave me a look and frowned.

"Artemis, I wasn't shouting. Are you feeling ok?" she asked, causing me to shrug.

"I have a headache and I don't feel good. Probably from the lack of sleep we've been getting. It's nothing. Don't worry about it," I replied as I rearranged myself slightly before shutting my eyes again. It was true. I felt like shit from the lack of sleep we had been getting and it didn't help that every time I went to sleep, I found myself waking right back up because I felt like I was going to be sick. Hadn't happened yet, but still.

"Hey Art. Don't go to sleep just yet. We're almost to town and I'm pretty sure there is a motel there for us to get. Then you can sleep," Sam said, causing me to shrug and open my eyes before sitting up right. I so badly just wanted to sleep and being in the Impala just wasn't helping me out at all.

"Yeah. If you're going to be sick, I'd rather you wait until we're at the motel and not in the Impala," Dean added, causing me to frown for a second before shrugging. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kiki and Sam exchange looks before looking at me in concern.

"No sarcastic remark to Dean? Artemis, are you sure you're feeling ok?" Kiki asked as Sam twisted his body around in the front seat and placed a hand along my forehead. Normally I would have just shrugged it away and given him a glare, but at this point I really didn't care so long as I could sleep.

"She's a bit warm. Dean, how far from the town are we?" Sam asked as he looked at his brother.

"About 10 minutes or so," he replied, causing Sam to sigh before turning to look back at me. I stared at him for a second before mimicking him by frowning. He raised an eyebrow and I merely shrugged.

"Bored," I said as Kiki shook her head.

"And sick. Artemis, you're getting sick. Like fever sick or whatever," she said, causing me to shrug. I really didn't care at this point. Normally I would, but my brain just wasn't functioning right. Hell. I couldn't even remember what day it was let alone exactly where the hell we were going. That's how fucking horrible I felt. It was a good thing that we finally made it to the hotel because I was ready to just pass out.

"I suggest you change and go to bed. Take some Tylenol or something to break the warmth. Or fever. Or whatever you may be having. Drink some water too." I stopped and blinked as I listened to Sam talk to me as he opened the door to our room. Was he acting like my mother? Or a mother figure or something?

"Don't just stand there, princess. Some of us would like to crash just as much as you." I gave Dean a dirty look before walking inside and throwing myself onto the nearest bed, which caused me to sigh in content and toss my glasses onto the nightstand as I could feel sleep begin to take over me.

"If you ask me, I think something has possessed your friend, Kiki," Dean said, causing me to hurl a pillow in his direction before throwing my jacket and converses across the room and making myself comfortable beneath the covers. I knew the three of them, especially Dean, were watching me in confusion, but I didn't care at this particular point. My body was aching and I just didn't feel good. Sue me.

"Possession or not, she's got a fever of some sort. We've got to watch her so something seriously wrong doesn't happen. Lord knows what she'll do if she gets really sick," Sam said, causing me to roll my eyes before allowing myself to drift off into a sleep.

**Dean's POV**

I merely shook my head at my brother and looked over to the now sleeping girl. It was strange that the ever energetic girl was now completely quiet and sleeping as well as not herself. The fact that Sam and Kiki thought she was getting sick was surprising since Artemis was healthy as ever and did whatever she had to do to keep herself healthy. Placing my hand gently against her forehead, I frowned when I realized she was indeed burning up.

"Hey Sam. Do me a favor and turn the air up as far as it'll go. Dude, she's burning up bad," I said as I gave my brother a look. He nodded and walked toward the door where the thermostat was while Kiki came from the bathroom and handed me a wet cloth, which I placed across her head.

"Lack of sleep my ass," I said, shaking my head.

"It was probably that and possibly the headaches from the last escapade we had. Could have left her wide open for sickness. Could have been anything. The only thing we can do is try to break the fever that's attacking. That or have a really bitchy Artemis on our hands for the next few days. Trust me when I say that it's not fun when she's sick," Kiki said, causing me to sigh and shake my head again. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with a bitchy Artemis. Wait. Scratch that. I don't want to deal with a sick bitchy Artemis. I dealt with a bitchy Artemis on a daily basis, but a sick one I wasn't looking forward to.

"I'm going to bed. I suggest the two of you get some sleep as well. If Artemis is getting sick, you're not going to be getting much sleep for a few nights after tonight," Kiki said before heading off to the bed where her friend slept soundless. Giving Sam a look, he merely shrugged and took to her idea. Rolling my eyes and seeing as I was outnumbered, as well as the fact that I didn't know what kind of spots there were in this town to hang out at, I took to Kiki's advice and threw myself onto the bed, much to the annoyed look my brother gave me. I merely rolled my eyes again and turned onto my side.

"Why the hell did I ever agree to any of this with these girls? I'm never going to get any sleep," I thought as I sighed. And right I was. Just as I drifted off to sleep some time later, I was pulled out of it by a slight cry and what sounded like liquid hitting a bucket or something. Opening my eyes, even though it was dark inside the room, I saw a body half-way off the bed next to me shaking uncontrollably. It took me a split second to realize that the body belonged to that of Artemis before I was out of the bed and holding her hair up out of her face as she seemed to be emptying her stomach again.

"Shit. Sam! Kiki!" I yelled, causing both figures to quickly sit up in bed as if I was in trouble or something.

"Dean, what in hell are…oh man," Sam said, getting out of bed quickly as he noticed what I was doing. Kiki, seeing as well what was going on, quickly got out of bed and came back from the bathroom with another wet cloth, which I placed on the back of Artemis's neck as she once again emptied her stomach.

"What the hell did she eat between yesterday and today?" I asked as I looked at the two.

"She didn't eat anything today because she said she wasn't feeling well. And yesterday she ate Subway with the rest of us. That was about it. Why?" Kiki asked.

"Because I want to know why such a tiny girl is emptying her stomach again when there isn't really anything in it," I replied as Artemis once again got sick. Feeling her forehead, I raised an eyebrow and looked at my brother with concern.

"She's really burning up. She's definitely got a fever," I said.

"Should we get her to the hospital?" Sam asked, causing Artemis to use what strength she had to shake her head. I went to speak, but she cut me off as she spoke. Or rather whispered.

"You take me to a hospital, Winchester, and I'm going to kill you when I'm feeling better. Don't you fucking dare take me to the hospital," she said before she was sick once again.

"Uh…Summers? Have you lost your fucking mind? You're really burning up and you're throwing up like there is no tomorrow. Not take you to the hospital? Yeah. You're really sick," I said, causing her to tilt her head up just slightly and, despite being sick, give me the most dirtiest look I've ever seen her give. I raised an eyebrow at her before looking over at Kiki, who merely shook her head. I guess she was right about her being a bitch when she was sick.

"Hey Sam. Why don't you get some Tylenol and some water for Artemis. No doubt she probably has a pounding headache after emptying her stomach like that. Dean, I'll deal with this. Just help her to the bathroom so she can rinse out her mouth or whatever. She's definitely not going to be able to walk without falling over or whatever," Kiki said once Artemis was done emptying her stomach.

"Does it have to be him?" I blinked and stared at Artemis before looking over at Sam and Kiki, who were trying hard to keep straight faces. I gave them a dirty look before turning back to Artemis and gently lifting her out of the bed. She whimpered in protest and it was no doubt that her body was aching terribly, so I passed her over into Sam's arms since I knew he could be more gentle with her than I could. This was going to be a long couple of days of sickness and bitchiness.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"But it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. He just disappeared?"

"Now you're sounding like Artemis. Geez. If she were to drop dead tomorrow, would you be picking up her words and attitude?"

"Shut up, Dean. You know something? If she were awake and feeling better, she'd rip you to shreds for even comparing the two of us. You know for a fact that we're two completely different people."

"Sam…..Shut them up." My eyes shifted open just slightly to make out a blurry Sam sitting on the opposite bed watching Dean and Kiki, who were on the other side of the room arguing. He turned his head toward me and sighed.

"Sorry Art. Dean and I just got back from talking to a kid who thinks he saw some guy disappear beneath a truck," he said, causing me to raise an eyebrow. I immediately regretted it when a headache began to form.

"Ow. Uh……..disappeared?" I asked, gently rubbing the back of my head.

"Don't think, Artemis. You're going to give yourself more headaches. And don't worry about it. You're sicker than a dog. And you're still severely hot," he replied as he drew his hand away from my forehead and I think give me a frown. I couldn't tell. My vision was blurry as hell at this point without my glasses.

"And she's going to continue to be that way if we don't go put her in the hospital. Sam, you and Kiki are the reasonable ones here. The girl hasn't eaten or drank anything in the past couple of hours since she first got sick. Yes I'm a bastard when it comes to her, Sam, but I've got a heart for the poor girl. Well actually I don't but you get my point. I really don't think we need to explain to her family that the girl refused to seek help and just died of a fever and whatever sickness she also has," Dean said, causing me to hurl a pillow in the direction of his voice and immediately bury myself beneath the blankets as a wave of nausea hit me.

"Don't, Dean. That's a sore subject for her," Sam said, causing me to groan. Just because I was sick didn't mean I was deaf.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, causing me to stick my hand out from beneath the blankets and move it around on the nightstand for my glasses before finally finding them. Placing them on, I moved the blankets out of my way and sat up. I felt really dizzy, but I really didn't care as I looked over at Dean.

" You selfish, arrogant, prick of a bastard. I swear to god that I'm going to fucking bang your head against the bloody fucking wall. My personal life is none of your fucking business. So shut the fuck up before I kick your ass. And don't give me that look, Dean. Just because I'm sick doesn't mean I won't," I snapped. I was fucking pissed off that he would even question what was said. Sam was the only one besides Kiki that knew about my family and that's the way I intended it to be. I didn't need anyone else feeling sorry for me. Especially someone like Dean.

"Chill out, princess. You're going to make yourself even sicker than…." But I didn't even hear him as I nearly fell off the bed in the attempt to empty my stomach. I let out a whimper as wave of nausea hit over and over again, causing tears to come to my eyes.

"I'm not joking anymore, you two. She's seriously sick. She's got to have food poisoning or something. We have to take her to the hospital," Dean said, causing Sam to shake his head.

"I'm not going to be on the end of her wrath, Dean. I agree with you, but if she's dead serious on not going, we have to respect her wishes. Kiki, grab the Tylenol and a glass of water. An Excedrin as well. She needs to sleep," Sam said as I felt a cool washcloth cross over my face before a glass of water appeared in front of it, causing me to inhale a bunch of water before spitting it back out to get rid of the horrible taste in my mouth.

"So you're just going to drug her up?" Kiki asked as she brought what Sam had asked for.

"It's better than letting her feel pain or whatever since she's refusing to go to the hospital. We just have to keep trying to get fluids in her as well as trying to break this horrible fever she's got. That's about all we can do. Take them," he replied, holding a couple of Tylenols and a couple of Excedrin in his hand up to me. I wasn't really feeling well to argue with him and took them without complaint. I knew he was just looking out for me, except maybe his brother. I wasn't so sure on that at this particular point. Placing my glasses back on the side table, I leant back into the pillows and began to slowly drift off to sleep.

"How long do you think she'll be out?"

"Dean, I gave her about three Excedrin. The weight of her body and considering how tiny she is will have her sleeping for several hours. These Excedrin will probably knock her out until tomorrow sometime," Sam replied as I could feel myself entering sleep.

"I say we go to a bar…." And I was out.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"I can not believe I actually allowed myself to come out with you two while my best friend is sicker than a dog back at the motel. Dean, how the hell could you suggest something like this?" I rolled my eyes at Kiki before turning my back to her to throw darts at the dart board.

"Chill out, Kiki. She'll be fine. We're only going to be gone for about an hour or two. You heard Sam. He gave her three Excedrin. She'll be out until at least tomorrow. I still say we should be taking her to the hospital, but whatever. You two seem to know her better than I do," I said, causing her to scoff.

"Well maybe if you didn't fight with her every chance you got, she might just warm up to you and actually talk to you like a human being rather than curse you into oblivion every time she talks to you," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Alright you two. We've got enough on our plate to worry about between Artemis and this missing guy. The local police have ruled out foul play. Apparently, there were signs of struggle," Sam said, causing me to look at my brother.

"Maybe they're right. Could be just a normal kidnapping. Maybe this isn't our kind of gig," I said.

"Yeah. Maybe not. Except for this. Dad marked the area, Dean. Possible hunting grounds of a phantom attacker," he said.

"But why would he even do that?" I asked, causing Sam to shrug.

"Well, he found a lot of folklore about a dark figure that comes out at night, grabs people and then vanishes. He found this too. This county has more missing persons per capita than anywhere else in the state," he replied.

"So you think that maybe this thing is a demon or something grabbing people at night and just vanishing with them? Does anyone ever say what it does to these people?" Kiki asked.

"No. It's just that they never are found," he replied with a nod.

"That is weird," I said.

"Yeah," he said.

"But don't phantom attackers usually snatch people from their beds? Jenkins was taken from a parking lot," I said.

"Well, there are all kinds, you know, Springheeled Jacks, Phantom Gassers. They…."

"They take people, anywhere at any time," I finished for him.

"Look, Dean, I don't know if this is our kind of gig either," he said, causing me to nod.

"Yeah, you're right. We should ask around more tomorrow," I said, causing Kiki to roll her eyes.

"Sometimes I wonder how Artemis and I got stuck with you two in the first place with the way you two interact with one another like this sometimes," she said as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Pretty much like I wonder how we got stuck with you two. As well as the fact that I can recall that the two of you pretty much argue on a daily basis about the next hunt. As far as I can see, you're pretty much like Sammy and I," I said, causing her to stick her tongue out at me. I merely rolled my eyes at the childish gestures usually given to me by Artemis before turning back around to the dart game I was playing.

"I think maybe we should head on back. Check up on Artemis," Sam said as he looked at his watch.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy. Let's have another round," I said as I turned back to my brother.

"We should really get an early start, Dean. And I agree with Sam. We should really check up on Artemis. Sleeping pills or not, that girl is violently ill," Kiki said, causing me to sigh in frustration.

"You two really know how to have fun, don't you, grandmas?" I asked, causing Sam to chuckle and shake his head as he stood up. I gave them both a look before groaning.

"Alright. I'll meet you two outside. I gotta take a leak," I said, throwing the darts at the board before grabbing my jacket and heading toward the men's room. A few minutes later, I exited the bar and headed toward the Impala, where I found dad's journal sitting on top of the back of the Impala. Confused as to why Sammy would leave it there since we never left dad's journal anywhere but in our hands or our bags, I threw open one of the doors to the Impala to see if either Sam or Kiki were in there. They weren't. Looking around, I saw nothing and I knew something was wrong. Hurrying back toward the bar, I found several people coming outside.

"Hey. You guys been outside, around here, in the last hour or so?" I asked, causing several of them to shake their heads no. Cursing, I frantically looked around the parking lot of the bar for any sign of Sam or Kiki.

"Sam! Kiki!" I yelled. There was absolutely no response and I was getting pissed. It wasn't like Sam or Kiki to just run off like that. Turning my head once again to search, I spotted a camera in the corner of the bar that was watching the road. Hurrying out to the road, I looked up and down but saw nothing. It was just like they had disappeared into thin air just like Sammy had said about the people of this town disappearing.

"Shit," I said as I realized something. Artemis was not going to be happy when she heard her best friend was missing. And it didn't help the matters that she was sick. She was going to kill me when I told her. Sighing, I headed back toward the Impala and headed toward the motel. Letting myself into the room, I saw that Artemis was still sleeping and I hated the fact that I had to wake her, but this was important. I was just hoping that she would wake up after Sam drugging her with all those fucking pills.

"Come on, princess. You gotta wake up," I said, lightly shaking her as I sat on the edge of the bed. I sighed when all I got was a slight sigh from the girl. At this moment I really hated Sam for drugging her up because not only did I have to find him and Kiki, but I also had to somehow manage to take care of a really sick Artemis.

"Artemis, I need you to wake up. Kiki and Sam have gone missing," I said, shaking her once again. That seemed to do the trick as her eyes fluttered open to give me a confused look. Apparently she wasn't in a deep sleep like I had thought. Or well we all thought when we left.

"What did you say?" she whispered.

"Sam and Kiki have somehow managed to disappear from the bar we were at. I sent them outside while I used the restroom and when I made my way outside, they were gone. My father's book was sitting on the back of the Impala and Sam nor I ever leave it for someone to find like that," I replied. She stared at me for a second before reaching for her glasses and putting them on so that she could sit up. It took her a few seconds to do so, which I think she regretted because I could tell just by the look on her face that she was experiencing nausea again.

"They're what?" she asked as she finally looked at me again.

"They've disappeared. Gone missing," I replied, causing her to stare at me. I figured she was going to start asking questions, but I wasn't prepared for what she did next.

"You let my best friend get kidnapped?! How could you do that?! What is wrong with you?! How the hell can you lose them in a bar?! Oh that's right! You were probably hitting on some woman as you were coming out of the bar! How could you let this happen?!" she yelled, causing me to stare at her in shock for a split second before my eyes narrowed. She was blaming me for this entire thing?

"Listen here, you fucking little bitch. I didn't do anything to cause them to disappear. I had to take a leak and the both of them went outside to wait for me. I wasn't hitting on any waitress so you can just get that fucking thought out of your fucking mind. You can't believe me? I can't believe you. You're fucking blaming me for something you weren't even there for since you're fucking sick as a fucking dog. Even when you're sick you're still a fucking bitch," I snapped as I stood up.

"Well excuse me. Excuse me for getting sick, oh mighty Dean Winchester. You think that just because….." But she stopped talking and took in a deep breath.

"Artemis?" I asked, causing her to shake her in response.

"I'm going to be sick," she said before she leaned over the side of the bed and proceeded to empty her stomach once again. Grabbing the washcloth from the side table, I wet it in the bathroom sink and placed it on the back of her neck as she empty her stomach not once, not twice, but three times. What the hell was she throwing up? There was nothing in her system besides the medicine Sam and given her and some water. Something just didn't add up.

"Artemis, I'm sorry, but I'm taking you to the hospital before you get even worse. You're burning up still and you've got nothing in your system to throw up. You can yell and scream at me all you want when you're feeling better, but I'm taking you to the hospital whether you like it or not," I said as she took a sip of water and spit it out to get rid of the taste in her mouth. She slowly sat up and gave me a glare.

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Artemis, I don't care what you say but I'm taking….." But I stopped talking when I noticed tears starting to form in her eyes as she shook her head.

"No. I don't want to go," she said.

"Artemis…."

"Dean, please," she whispered as she grasped my arm and looked at me almost pleadingly. What was going on? She never pleaded or begged before. Not even with Kiki. Something wasn't right.

"Art…" But I stopped speaking and wrapped my arms around the tiny body that latched onto me with a small cry. Something wasn't right about this and even though she was sick, I think that this was real. Something that was coming out because she was sick. If she wasn't sick, I knew for a fact that she wouldn't be clinging to me like she was if she wasn't sick. Something was definitely wrong here.

"Alright Artemis. No hospital. But we've got to find Sam and Kiki and I can't do that with you blaming me. I don't like the fact that I have to do this and you're sicker than a dog," I said as I shook my head. She mumbled something and I looked down at her to hear what she was saying, but she merely shook her head and tightened her grip on my shirt. I sighed as I shook my head. What was going on with her?

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"This is such a bad idea, Dean," I said, shaking my head and leaned against him to keep my balance as he helped me out of the Impala and started walking toward the police station.

"Well if we want to find Sam and Kiki, we have to start somewhere," he said as he gave me a cheeky grin, causing me to roll my eyes. Even though I was sicker than anything, I was up and out with Dean in order to find Sam and Kiki. Even though I didn't like his method of pretending to be a state officer in this small town, I knew he was right for doing it. It was to find Sam and Kiki before something happened to them. If something hadn't happened already.

"So how can I help you, Officer Washington?" I snapped out of my thoughts as I realized we were standing inside the police station with an officer observing Dean's fake id.

"I'm working a missing persons," Dean replied.

"I didn't know the Jenkins case was being covered by the state police," she said, causing me to sigh. I knew this was so not going to work.

"Uh, no. No. This is someone else. This one is my cousin. We were having a few last night at this bar down by the highway with my cousin's girl and I haven't seen him since," he said.

"Does your cousin have a drinking problem?" she asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No. Two beers and he'd probably be doing karaoke," I replied, causing her to look at me before looking back at Dean.

"Is she alright?" she asked, causing Dean to shake his head.

"This is my girl, Artemis. She wasn't with us last night when we went drinking, so she doesn't know anything except what I told her. She's fighting the flu and a fever. Couldn't leave her by herself while I tried to find my cousin and his girl," he replied.

"I see," she said.

"He wasn't drunk. He was…."

"Taken. So was his girl, which happens to be my best friend," I said, cutting Dean off. She seemed to understand and started walking away from the counter.

"Alright. What are their names?" she asked as she sat down at a computer.

"Orion and Winchester. Lauren Orion and Sam Winchester," I replied as Dean set me gently down in a chair before taking a seat next to me.

"Like the rifle?" she asked as she gave Dean a look.

"Like the rifle," he replied with a nod, causing the lady to nod as she began to type away. It was about a minute before she spoke.

"Samuel Winchester. So you know that his brother Dean Winchester died in St. Louis and, uh, was suspected of murder?" she asked as she looked up at us.

"Yeah. Dean. Kind of the black sheep of the family. Handsome though," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes and shake my head. The officer seemed to be thinking the same thing as she shook her head as well.

"Uh-huh. And Lauren Elizabeth Orion. Job is a traveling business woman with a friend, Artemis Flora Summers. I'm presuming that would be you?" she asked as she looked at me. I merely nodded and leant my head onto Dean's shoulder as I felt a wave of nausea hit me. He gave me a look but I merely shook my head and shut my eyes to try and keep myself from getting sick.

"Well, they're not showing up in any current field reports," she said.

"Oh. Well I already have a lead. I saw a surveillance camera by the highway," he said.

"Uh-huh. Country traffic cam?" she asked.

"Right. Yeah. I'm thinking the camera picked up whatever took him. Or whoever," he replied, causing me to open my eyes and roll them at Dean. He merely gave me a look before returning his attention back to the cop.

"Well, I have access to the traffic cam footage down at the Country Works department. But, well, in the meantime, let's do this the right way. Why don't you…uh…fill out a missing persons report and sit tight over there," she said, handing Dean before pointing to a couple of chairs in the lobby area. Dean sighed as he stood up and looked at her.

"Look, officer, he's family. She's her best friend. I mean, I kind of…I kind of look out for the kid. You gotta let me go with ya," he said.

"I'm sorry. I can't do that," she said, causing me to sigh as I shook my head. This was getting us nowhere and knowing Dean's temper, it could blow this cover he was trying to use to find Sam and Kiki. Oh man. Why the fuck did I have to get sick like this? I was no help whatsoever right now and this was something Dean really couldn't do on his own. Especially with his worry over his brother.

"Come on, princess." I snapped out of my thoughts as Dean tugged gently on my jacket and pulled me up into his arms, causing me to whimper just slightly as a wave of nausea hit me again.

"Is she going to be alright?" the officer asked, causing Dean to nod as I buried my head against his chest.

"She's been very ill since the day before and she refuses to allow me to take her to the hospital. So I've been trying everything to break the fever and the flu. That's the only thing I can do as of right now since my cousin and her best friend have gone missing," he replied.

"I think maybe you should get her to the hospital before we further on with this," she said, causing Dean to sigh as I let out a small whimper and clutched his shirt a bit tighter.

"No. She'll be fine. If she worsens before this is over, I'll take her. But right now our main concern is my cousin and his girl," he said, causing the officer to sigh and shake her head as if she didn't understand about why I wouldn't go to the hospital. But she didn't push it any further as she motioned for us to follow her. As I made to move, I gasped just slightly as Dean easily swung me up into his arms and followed behind the officer.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I gave him a look that clearly told him I was confused.

"You're sick and that means slow movements in order to not create waves of nausea that would cause you to get sick. Then we'd be stuck here for the next hour or so instead of trying to find Sam and Kiki," he replied, causing me to blink and stare at him. He sensed my look and turned to his head to look at me.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you seriously being gentle with me?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes before looking back at me with an annoyed expression.

"You know something? If you weren't sick, I would be dropping you straight onto the concrete right about now. For once in your life I wish you would see that I actually have a heart unlike some people," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Yeah. For your family. I'm not your family, Dean," I said, causing him to give me a hard glare.

"You might as well be since Sam has taken to you like a fly," he said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"He likes Kiki, Dean. You know this. We just have a…."

"Connection. I know. Now shut up before you get sick. You're starting to turn white," he said, causing me to look at him before suddenly realizing he was right. I was beginning to not feel well, causing me to close my eyes and set my head on his shoulder. I heard him sigh open a door before gently setting me down. I knew it wasn't the Impala, but I didn't care as I leaned against the seat and took in a deep breath.

"Is she seriously going to be ok?" I opened my eyes slightly to look at Dean as he sat in the passenger seat of the police cruiser and nodded. He gave me a look before speaking.

"She'll be ok," he replied, causing the officer to look back at me before sighing and pulling away from the station. I sighed and shut my eyes again. This was going to be a long fucking day.

* * *

"But it doesn't make any sense, Dean."

"Nothing ever makes any sense to you, princess."

"I'm being serious, Dean. I'm seeing nothing for miles but trees, trees, and more trees. There is no way, if you're telling me that this rust bucket of a truck picked up Sam and Kiki, they could have gotten far without breaking down or something," I said as I gave him a glare.

"You're girlfriend is right. The next traffic cam is 50 miles from here, and your pickup didn't pass that one. So…"

"It must of pulled off somewhere," Dean finished for the officer.

"But I don't see any roads anywhere," I said as I looked out the window at all the trees passing by. If I wasn't so sick, I would marvel at the scenery before me, but my head hurt too much to think and if we didn't stop soon, I was going to be sick again. The nausea so wasn't helping me. The sound of a computer beeping, caused me to look forward as the officer looked at Dean and then back at me. I gulped just slightly as I knew we were so busted.

"I uh…ran a check with our system about your id. It's county protocol when working with state officers. And your id number came up," she said as she looked at Dean. Dean looked back at me and I ran a hand over my face. We were so fucking screwed. However, I didn't hear the rest of what the officer had to say as I threw open the door and threw up. The sound of doors opening made me aware that Dean and the officer had gotten out of the car and had knelt down next to me as I threw up once again.

"She's been like this for two days and you haven't brought her to the hospital? How dumb can you be? Oh wait. You have been impersonating an officer," the cop said as she gave us both a look, especially Dean.

"I tried but she doesn't want to go. I'm not going to force her to do something she doesn't want to do," he said, causing the officer to scoff.

"Well she's going to go because I said she's going to go. She's under arrest just as you are for hiding the fact that you were impersonating an officer," she said, causing me to groan before I emptied my stomach again. I hated this. I seriously didn't know what was wrong with me and I don't think it was the flu. I knew I had a fever because I could feel my body heat just burning, but I knew it wasn't the flu whatsoever. However, going to the hospital just wasn't an option for me. It just wasn't.

"Look, I've tried to get her to go to the hospital but she won't go. She's afraid because she lost someone there and doesn't ever want to go there again. I don't care that you arrest me, but please. Wait until I find my cousin and his girl," he said, causing me to look up at him with a strange look. Did he seriously know that's why I was afraid of hospitals? Or was he just making it up although it was the truth for me?

"I'm sorry, but I have to take you and your girlfriend in? And is she really your girlfriend? She looks a bit too young for you if you get my drift," she said, causing me to roll my eyes and wipe at my mouth as I slowly sat up to look at them.

"I don't care what the fuck you do, but I'm not going to the hospital. And just because I'm short for 21 doesn't mean you can insult me. Or him for that matter," I said, causing her to look at me in slight shock. Dean was too. He expected me to be more quiet since I was sick, but hearing her insult me and him for that matter bugged me. I was the only one that could insult Dean and get away with it. Me only.

"Artemis, it's alright," Dean said, causing me to glare at him.

"I'm sorry, but I have to take you in," she said, causing me to groan. I so didn't want to go to jail because of Dean's stupid ass.

"Please. Wait until after we find them. My cousin is….when we were younger, I practically pulled him from a fire. And ever since then, I've felt responsible for him. You know, like it's…it's my job to keep him safe. I'm just afraid if we don't find him fast…"

"That we'll lose them," I whispered, causing them both to look at me. I looked up and gave Dean a look, causing him to sigh and nod at what I had said.

"I'm sorry. You've given me no choice. I have to take you in," she said as she stood up and walked back over to her side of the car. Watching as she got in, I saw her stare above her to a picture of a guy and a girl. Looking back at Dean, I could see the look in his eyes, causing me to sigh.

"Once we find Sam Winchester." Those words caused me to spin around so quickly that I almost immediately threw up again. But I found myself calming down at Dean's hand on my back as he looked down at me with a small smile. I stared at him for a second before I felt my lips curl into a small smile that caused a smug look to come to his face, causing me to roll my eyes. He never got me to smile and I think he felt like a bad ass or something for getting me to do it, even if I was sick.

"Are you getting back in or what?" I looked over at the officer as she gave us both a stern look. I bit my bottom lip and turned to Dean. He gave a nod and shut the door before getting back into the passenger seat. Looking back at me, I gave him a nod and he smiled. A genuine smile that caused me to chuckle. Maybe Dean Winchester did have a heart after all.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Ok officer. I don't mean to press my luck…."

"Your luck is so pressed," she said, cutting me off, causing me to sigh.

"Right. I was wondering…why are you helping us out anyway? Why don't you just lock me up? Lock my girlfriend up for knowing but not saying anything?" I asked as I opened the back door of the police cruiser and handed the bottle of water I had gotten for Artemis to the girl as she lay with her head rested against the seat. She gave me a grateful nod before I returned my attention back to the officer.

"My brother Riley disappeared three years ago. A lot like Sam and Lauren. We searched for him, but nothing. I know what it's like to feel responsible for someone, and for them…..You know what? Come on. Let's keep at it. You're girlfriend seems to be doing a bit better. The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can take care of her more properly," she said before she walked to her side of the car. I gave a sigh but got into the car beside her. Looking back at Artemis, I shook my head slightly as I realized that she had fallen asleep. I didn't blame her. She hadn't slept since I had woken her yesterday or the day prior to tell her that Sam and Kiki had been taken. Or went missing. Which ever you wanted to say. Her fever had finally broke about an hour ago when we had stopped and she finally stopped getting really sick, but I knew that we had to find Sam and Kiki before it got worse again. She needed proper treatment. Sighing, I turned my attention back to the road as we traveled down the same road we had been traveling down. However, this time was different as I noticed something.

"Wait. Pull over there. Pull over," I said, causing the officer to pull over and give me a strange look. Shutting the car off, we got out and began to survey the land.

"This is the first turnoff I've seen so far," I said.

"You stay here. I'll check it out," she said, causing me to scoff.

"No way," I said, shaking my head.

"Hey. You're a civilian. And a felon, I think. And you've got a very sick girlfriend in the back of the police cruiser. I'm not taking you with me," she said.

"Artemis will be fine. You're not going without me," I said, shaking my head. She gave a sigh before she looked at me.

"Alright. You promise you won't get involved? You'll let me handle it?" she asked. I gave her a look and knew for damn sure that I was going to get involved, but she didn't need to know that.

"Sure. Sure," I said with a nod as I gave her a fake smile.

"Shake on it," she said, causing me to shrug and shake her hand. What I wasn't expecting was her to bring the cuffs down on me.

"Oh come on," I said as I found myself being cuffed against the driver side door and her stuffing the key away into her pocket. She merely gave me a look and started to walk away.

"This is ridiculous. Kathleen, I really think you're going to need my help," I said as I finally remembered what the hell her name was.

"I'll manage. Look after your girlfriend. Thank you," she said as she hit the alarm on her car and continued to walk. I cursed and kicked at the ground before I started feeling my pockets for a safety pin. Not finding one, I groaned. Trying to wake Artemis at this point was not an option. If there was one thing I knew, this girl could sleep through a fucking tornado if she hadn't had proper sleep. Noticing the antenna at the top of the car, I started to reach for it. However, the sound of whining growls started to come down the pathway that Kathleen had gone and I started to panic just slightly. Not only did I have to get myself out of the cuffs, but I had to get Artemis out of the car as well. Like that was going to work. As the voices drew closer, I frantically removed the antenna from the car and got to working on the handcuffs. Just as the voices drew near and around the car, I managed to completely uncuff myself and throw myself into a nearby bush. Drawing myself far back from sight, I watched as they drew themselves around the car to probably bring it back to whatever was back there. However, sudden movement from inside the car caught my eye and I cursed.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here, Lee. A girl in the back of the police cruiser. Pa's going to be quite pleased for another one," one of them said.

"Shit. She's going to kill me," I muttered as I realized that Artemis had to be completely scared at of her mind to wake up to these two lug heads. My thoughts were confirmed when the door was thrown open and she emerged quickly, only to be stopped by one of the guys. I watched kind of helplessly as she struggled against him and screaming for help until she was struck quite hard on the back of her head, knocking her definitely unconscious. Watching as he began to carry her back down the bath they had come, I waited until both guys had disappeared down the path, the growling and whining of the motor vehicle they had used to take Sam and other people, before cautiously and carefully making my way to where ever the path was taking me. I quickly maneuvered myself amongst what I think was a junkyard of cars to the backside of the house where it was like a barn or something. Quietly slipping inside, I ducked at things hanging on the ceiling and carefully stepping my way just in case there was some kind of trap laying around.

"Dean?" I whirled around at the voice and was relieved when I saw the twinkling brown eyes of Kiki staring back at me. Or at least her eyes staring at me. They seemed to have lost their twinkle just a bit, which I didn't blame her for.

"Thank god. Where's Sam?" I asked, causing her to point just slightly to her left. Turning my body in the direction she pointed, I saw my brother and I left out a sigh of relief.

"Sam? Are you hurt?" I asked as I walked toward him and realized that he, like Kiki, was in some kind of metal cage that was built for something like an animal.

"No. A bit banged up but not hurt," he replied, causing me to give the cage a slight bang as I grinned.

"Damn it's good to see you," I said.

"How did you get out of the cuffs? And where's your girlfriend?" I turned slightly to see Kathleen in a similar cage right across from Sam's.

"Oh, I know a trick or two. As for Artemis, she…."

"Wait. You brought Artemis along with you?" I turned back around to look at my brother's face filled with anger. I knew he was getting pissed, but I really didn't have a choice in the matter.

"I really didn't have a choice in the matter, Sammy. It was either keep her at the hotel or bring her with me," I said.

"She's sicker than a fucking dog, Dean. What the fuck were you thinking? What happened to her? Did she get captured?" Kiki asked, causing me to sigh in frustration.

"I had no choice but to bring her along with me. With you two gone, I was left to care for her. And since I was trying to find you guys, she had to come with me. Kathleen over there cuffed me to the police cruiser and I only got them undone and ducked into a nearby bush when whoever is living here came around the side of the car. Artemis tried to escape when she realized what was going on, but they hit her pretty hard in the back of the head. They didn't bring her here with you guys?" I asked as I looked around for any sign of Artemis.

"No. So I'm assuming that she was indeed captured. Way to go, Dean. Now you have to rescue the damsel in distress and Artemis hates that," Kiki said, causing me to groan as I realized what a headache I was in for with Artemis once this was all over and done with.

"Great. Alright. Let's get you guys out of here. Oh…These locks look like they're going to be a bitch," I said as I walked to the door of the cage Sam was in and groaned when I spotted the automatic locks.

"Well, there's some kind of automatic control right there," Sam said as he pointed toward a box behind me.

"Have you seen them?" I asked as I made my way over to where Sam was pointing and looked at the box, which I came to the conclusion that I was going to need something to open those cages with.

"Yeah. Dude, they're just people," he replied, causing me to give him a look.

"And they jumped you? Must be getting a little rusty, kiddo. What do they want?" I asked.

"I don't know. They let Jenkins go, but that was some sort of trap," he replied.

"Yeah. We got to listen to his agonizing screams all night," Kiki added, causing me to raise an eyebrow. Was she serious?

"It just doesn't make any sense to me," he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah. Well that's the point. With our usual playmates, there's rules and patterns to follow. But with people, they're just crazy," I said as I made my way over toward Kathleen's cage.

"See anything else out there?" he asked.

"Uh….there's about a dozen junked cars hidden out back with plates from all over. So I figured that when they take someone, they take their car too," I replied.

"Did you see a black Mustang out there? About ten years old?" I turned my attention toward Kathleen and gave her a look as if to question her myself.

"Yeah, actually, I did," I replied, causing her to sigh and look away. It took me a second before I realized what she was asking about.

"Your brother's," I said, causing her to sigh again.

"Yeah," she whispered with a slight nod.

"I'm sorry. Look. Let's get you guys out of here and then we'll take care of those bastards. This thing takes a key? Key?" I asked as I turned around to look at my brother.

"I…I don't know," he replied, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

"Alright. I better go find it," I said as I made my way toward the door.

"Hey." I turned back toward my brother as he gave me a look.

"Be careful," he said, causing me to nod before leaving through the door I had come through. Noting that it was starting to get really dark out, I maneuvered my way along the house and through another door, which I think led right into the basement. Grabbing a flashlight off a nearby shelf, I turned it on and began looking around. Searching along a shelf, I grunted in disgust as I realized that it was some kind of human souvenir shelf as I saw glasses and brains and other kinds of human looking stuff. Shaking my head, I continued around the corner, where I stopped as I saw picture after picture littering the wall. Getting a closer look, I was again grunted in disgust as I realized that there were dead humans in the pictures with two guys looking like it was a fun game or something.

"Well, I'll say it again. Demons I get. People are just crazy. Crazier than probably Artemis," I muttered, shaking my head before I continued toward a flight of stairs and quietly made my way up them. As I pushed the door open carefully, I heard music and the sharpening of knives or something coming from down the hall, causing me to cautiously move my way down toward the sound. Peering around the corner, I saw a man standing at what I think was a kitchen sink cutting into something I couldn't see. After what I saw downstairs, I really didn't want to know. Turning around, I quietly grabbed a wooden stick that had a sharp metal hook at the end and made my way back toward the kitchen. However, a box full of keys caught my attention and I made my way toward them. Just as I was about to pick them up, a noise from behind caused me to quickly turn around, startling a girl that was standing there.

"Shh…It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you," I said as I took a step toward her. She seemed harmless enough, but I was proven wrong when she pulled a knife from a pocket or something in her dress and slammed it against my side, trapping part of my shirt and jacket against the wall.

"Daddy!" she yelled.

"Geez," I muttered as I tried to pull my shirt and jacket from beneath the knife.

"Daddy!" she yelled again, causing me to pull my jacket and shirt free just as one of the guys from earlier came from down a flight of stairs. Just as I made to move, the other one came from behind and grabbed onto me. Using his lifting me up in the air, I kicked the oncoming guy before being slammed against the corner of the wall and then thrown across the room into the wall, dropping the knife I had in my hand onto the floor. One of them punched me, causing me to punch him right back before kicking a piece of furniture at the other one. Although it was two against one, I was doing pretty good with my punches and such.

"I'm going to kick your ass first. And then yours," I said, pointing to one and then the other. However, just as I made to move, a swipe to the head caused me to fall and darkness to come.

* * *

I groaned as pounding racked my brain in the form of a headache. Moving to try and place my hand against my head, I found that my arms were tied behind me. Lifting my head as I opened my eyes, I saw the old man from the kitchen, the two guys, and the girl standing there and staring at me.

"Come on. Let us hunt him," one of them said.

"Yeah. This one puts up a fight. Sure would be fun to hunt," the other said, causing me to scoff as I looked at them in disbelief.

"Oh you got to be kidding me. That's what this is about. You…You yahoos hunt people?" I asked, causing the old man in front of me to lean toward me.

"You ever killed before?" he asked, causing me to look at him before letting out a disbelief of a chuckle.

"Well that depends on what you mean," I replied.

"I've hunted all of my life. Just like my father, his before him. I've hunted deer and bear. I even got a cougar once. Oh, boy. But the best hunt is human. Oh, there's nothing like it. Holding their life in your hands and seeing the fear in their eyes just before they go dark. Makes you feel powerful alive," he said.

"You're a sick puppy," I said, causing him to give me a glare and stand up.

"We give em' a weapon. Give em' a fighting chance. It's kind of like our tradition that's passed down father to son. Course, only one or two a year. Never enough to bring the law down. We never been that sloppy," he said, causing me to snort with laughter.

"Oh. Yeah, well, don't sell yourself short. You're plenty sloppy," I said, causing him to bend down toward me.

"So, what? You with that pretty cop? Or maybe the fresh young girl my boys found in the back of that police cruiser?" he asked, causing my head to snap up in his direction at the mention of Artemis.

"What the hell have you done with her?" I asked, causing him to chuckle as he stood up and nodded to his boys. They gave a chuckle moved toward the opposite side of the room where they moved some things around before pushing a chair toward me with a grin. I tried to move when I noticed that it was Artemis tied to the chair, but the ropes were tight around my arms, preventing me from doing so. Although I could tell she was still unconscious from the hit on the back of the head, since there was a bit of blood that had dried along her neck, it was scaring me just a bit to see her just not moving. She looked like a fucking rag doll that a kid had mishandled and such.

"This one is pretty sick, but we be fixing her up to have us a good ol' hunt. My boys tell me she put up a pretty good fight trying to get away. Or rather tried. So you going to tell me about the cop? Or do I have to persuade you to do so?" he asked as he nodded toward the girl, who took the same knife she had used on me and placed it against Artemis's neck.

"Don't you fucking touch her. Or I will kill you myself," I growled, causing them to laugh.

"Then I suggest you answer my questions. Are you a cop?" he asked as he leant down toward me again.

"If I tell you, promise me you won't make me into an ashtray?" I asked, causing him to give me a glare and stand up and nod to his boys. I groaned as one of them punched me in the face.

"Only reason I don't let my boys take you right her and now is that there's something I need to know," the old man said as he walked behind me.

"Yeah, how about it's not nice to marry your sister," I said.

"Tell me. Any other cops gonna come looking for you?" he asked, causing me to groan.

"Ah, eat me. No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. You actually might," I replied, causing the one to hit me to grab me by the throat and hold my head back as the old man came forward with a hot poker.

"You think this is funny? You brought this down on my family. All right. You wanna play games? We'll play some games. Looks like we're gonna have a hunt tonight after all boys. And you, get to pick the animal. The boy, the girl, or the cop," he said as he looked down at me.

"Okay. Wait, wait, wait. No. Look, nobody's coming for me, alright? It's just us," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"You don't choose, I will. And you might now like the consequences," he said as he proceeded to bring the hot poker down on me but turned around and laid it on Artemis's shoulder. On her bare skin.

"No! You son of a bitch!" I yelled as Artemis let out a scream.

"Pick the animal, boy, or the girl will get more than a burn," he said as he stopped it inches from her throat. I wanted nothing more than to leap out of this chair and kick the shit out of these people as Artemis's cries rang through my ears.

"Alright! The guy. The guy. Take the guy," I said, causing him to give a smirk and stand up. Taking off a key from around his neck, he gave it to the guy standing behind him.

"Go do it, Lee. But don't let him out though. Shoot him in the cage," he said, causing my eyes to widen.

"What? I thought you said you were gonna hunt him. You were gonna give him a chance," I said, causing him to turn around and speak to his son.

"Lee, when you're done with the boy, shoot the bitches too," he said, causing the guy to give a grin as he took out a shot gun and made his way out of the room. Turning to me, he gave me a glare.

"We have to clean up this mess before any more cops come around here," he said, causing me to give him a look before looking over at Artemis as her body was slumped in the chair, shaking with cries from the burn she had just received. I was getting pissed at what was going on.

"I swear that if you hurt my brother, his girl, or her, I will kill you. I will kill you all. You hear me? I will kill you all!" I yelled. But he seemed to ignore me as he walked toward the other side of the room.

"Lee!" he yelled. But no answer came.

"Lee! Jared, you come with me. Missy, you watch him now," he said as he took a shot gun from his son and left the room, the girl watching over me with the knife that was in her hands now trained on my eye. This was so not good. I was going to kill them.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"Hey." Shifting my eyes open, I saw Kiki standing in the door way of my hospital room with a slight nervous look to her face. I gave a slight chuckle and nodded at her to come in, causing her to give a sigh of relief and come inside.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she sat down.

"Better. My shoulder hurts like a bitch from being burned by that poker, but other than that, I feel ten times better than what I did a couple of hours ago or even yesterday," I replied.

"Doctor said you had a severe case of food poisoning. He couldn't believe you went so long without getting treatment," she said, causing me to shrug lightly. She gave me a look and merely shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"I just can't believe you would risk your life than go to a hospital for help, Artemis. You could have been seriously hurt. You could have died. I know you don't like hospitals because of what happen to your brother, but that is no reason to be stupid," she replied, causing me to sigh.

"Kiki, I understand your concern and thank you for it. But I don't think you'll ever understand why I think the way I do. Never," I said, causing her to sigh and shake her head.

"You're probably right, but please, please, please don't do that again," she said, causing me to chuckle.

"I promise. Where's Sam?" I asked.

"Bearing coffee for the non-ill and a fresh thing of water for the ill." I let out a chuckle as Sam walked into the room with a cup of coffee for Kiki and a fresh container of water for me.

"How are you feeling? Better?" he asked, causing me to nod.

"I made her promise she won't do something like this again," Kiki said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Well good. We don't need another episode like we had with you being sick. Although I have learned something. You will sleep through a tornado if we drug you up," he said, causing me to slap him on the arm and laugh as I shook my head.

"Hey Art. You'll never guess what happened on this little nightmare of an adventure," Kiki said, causing me to look at her.

"Dean nearly got himself killed?" I asked with a mocked serious expression.

"Yeah. You wish, princess." I rolled my eyes and looked toward the door where Dean leaned casually against the doorway.

"Ignore him, Artemis. No. Sam asked me out," she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow and look over at Sam as he shrugged.

"You asked her out while you were locked up in a cage? Yeah. You're romantic," I said, causing him to roll his eyes but smile as Kiki gave him a light kiss on the cheek. I pretended to gag, causing them laugh and Dean to shake his head.

"Hey guys. Could you give me a minute with Artemis?" Dean asked, causing Sam and Kiki to look at one another in confusion and then at me. I merely shrugged and gave them a wave of the hand. They took the hint and left the room, leaving Dean to take Kiki's spot in the chair next to the bed.

"How you feeling?" he asked.

"Other than the burn on my shoulder? Just fine," I replied.

"Well that's good. At least you'll be back to your normal psycho self then," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"What? You didn't like the sick me?" I asked.

"No. It was rather annoying. Do you know how whiny and bitchy you are when you're sick?" he asked.

"Hello. I was sick. What did you expect? And I should be asking you questions since you seemed so gentle with me while I was sick. Who were you and what did you do with Dean Winchester?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"I was the same guy, princess. I was just worried about you because of Sam. Sam would have had my head if I didn't take care of you. He's grown very fond of you. Like a little sister in a way. I also have a heart, which you seem to be lacking most of the time," he replied, causing me to shake my head.

"I have a heart, Dean. You just don't see it because you're a stubborn, pigheaded jerk. There are a lot of things that you don't understand about me that your brother does and that's why we are the way we are. He's like my comfort bubble," I said, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Excuse me? Did you just say a comfort bubble?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes at his stupidity.

"Yes, Dean. A comfort bubble. I feel comfort when I'm around Sam. You? I don't even know since we fight half the damn time," I said.

"Yeah well you're a bitch," he said as he leaned back in the chair.

"And you're a stubborn bastard. We're even," I said, causing him to give me a smug look as he made himself comfortable. I merely shook my head and leant myself back into the pillows.

"You're a mystery sometimes, Dean Winchester," I said.

"As are you, princess. As are you," he said, causing me to tilt my head just slightly and look at him. He had busied himself with a magazine, causing me to shake my head. A typical guy. Shutting my eyes, I thought about what had happened earlier. Sam and Kiki had defeated the crazy people holding us captive and had rescued Dean and myself from the crazy 13 year old girl that had wanted to cut out Dean's eyes. Dean had carried me all the way back to the police station before taking me to the hospital where I was now. It was a comforting touch that I felt with Dean for some reason. I knew it was probably nothing, but there was something there that I couldn't put my finger on. I felt a protection and a comfort in these situations when I was with Dean. I don't know. I couldn't really describe it. I wasn't sure what was going on and I knew that if I didn't figure it out, I was going to be in for one hell of a ride if it came full force. I had to untangle myself from the mystery of Dean Winchester before something went wrong.


	8. Chapter 7: Shadow

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Shadow**

"_He slipped the shoe on and then he…."_

"_Asked her to marry him and they lived happily ever after!"_

"_Artemis, if you want to be read a story every night before bed, I suggest you pick one that you have not heard a million times before."_

"_But it's my favorite, mummy." A young girl looked up at her mother with icy blue-green eyes sparkling with happiness, causing the woman to laugh lightly and kiss the top of her daughter's head._

"_Someone is ready to say good night and be off to bed."_

"_Daddy!" The man entering the room quickly passed the baby in his arms over to his wife before scooping up the energetic five year old girl up into his arms and blowing kisses against his face._

"_Daddy!" The little girl let out a string of giggles as she tried to shield her face from the attack._

"_Danny, I think that is enough. Don't get her riled up or she will never go to sleep. She has a long day tomorrow. Mrs. Anderson is taking her to the zoo. Now bring her over here to say good night to her brother."_

"_Annabelle, do not worry. She may have the energy of a bouncing ball, but we both know that she'll be out like a light once she's tucked into bed and snuggled against Mr. Hoppy," he said as he gently kissed his wife on her cheek._

"_I know. Ok Miss Artemis. It is time for bed. Say good night to your brother," she said as she looked at her daughter in her husband's arms._

"_Good night, Bryce," the young girl said as she leant as far as her father would allow her to kiss her baby brother's cheek. The wrinkling of the baby's noise caused her to giggle before she clung to her father as he carried her out of the nursery and down to her bedroom._

"_Ok princess. Time for bed," he said as he set her down onto her bed._

"_Check for monsters," she said as she hugged a large pink bunny to her chest. Her father merely chuckled before ducking beneath her bed and checking the closet before returning to the bed where his oldest sat hugging the large pink rabbit he had won for her at the county fair just weeks prior._

"_No monsters in the closet or under the bed," he said, causing his daughter to give a thinking look before speaking._

"_They must all be on vacation," she said, causing him to let out a hearty laugh before kissing the top of her head. _

"_Must be. Now let's get you tucked in before mommy comes in here and yells at us both. Good night, princess," he said as he tucked her into bed and kissed the top of her head once again. _

"_Good night, daddy," she said with a yawn before drifting off to sleep. He gave a chuckle and shut off the light before exiting the room, leaving the door cracked just slightly to allow light from the nightlight in the hallway into her room. The wind was blowing seemed to be blowing quite harshly outside, but no notice was taken by the young girl as she seemed for gone in her dreams to notice. Or even to notice the shadows along the wall._

"_No!!" Screams from her mother caused the young girl to sit up out of her dreams and strain her ears to see if she had heard the screams. Her curiosity was only confirmed when she heard her father's yells and his footsteps in the hall way. Clutching Mr. Hoppy to her chest, she made her way quickly out of bed and down the hallway where she could hear her father._

"_Daddy?" But the words no sooner left her mouth when the ceiling caught on fire, causing her to scream as she saw her mother on the ceiling. Burning._

"_No! Annabelle!" But it was too late as her father grabbed onto her brother and scooped her up into his arms as he raced from the room. His wife too far gone to save._

"_No! Mummy!"_

* * *

I gasped for air as I bolted upward out of a dead sleep, sweat covering my entire body from the nightmare I had been dreaming. Swallowing hard, I refocused my blurry vision as I looked around the motel room at each of my companions, who were dead to the world at this point. Kiki was sound asleep in the bed next to me as she lay curled in Sam's arms as he shifted silently before sighing in content. I merely shook my head at his actions before turning my attention to my bed companion. How I ended up sleeping in the same bed with Dean Winchester I will never know. Oh wait. It's because of those two love birds in the bed next to me.

"Sickening," I muttered as I threw myself backwards, letting my head hit the pillow with a soft thud.

"You know something? For someone as tiny as you, you sure know how to make movement. It gets rather annoying when someone is trying to sleep."

"Fuck off, Winchester," I snapped as I turned my head slightly, Dean's green eyes locking with mine as he dug his head out from beneath the pillows.

"I'd be glad to, but you're just not a willing participant," he said with a smirk, causing me to smash the pillow into his face before throwing it at the couple in the bed next to ours. It didn't even faze them as they continued to sleep away. Groaning, I flipped myself onto my stomach and buried my head into my arms as I tried to go back to sleep. It was damn near impossible as a headache began to form as well as Dean shifting next to me was getting on my nerves.

"Can you never just lay still?" I asked as I pushed myself up on my elbows and looked over at him. He lifted his head and gave me a dirty look before he too pushed himself up on his elbows.

"I told Sammy this was a bad idea. Sticking me with you in the same bed. You move too much," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and give him a glare.

"I move too much? You shouldn't be the one to talk. You move too much for your own good. And on top of that, you snore. I'm surprised any of us can sleep with you snoring away like a bloody truck," I said. He stared at me for a second and before I knew it, I had let out a short scream as I fell off the bed trying to duck the pillow he had swung at me. The crash and scream caused both Kiki and Sam to shoot up in their bed, looking frantically around for the source before Kiki leaned over the side of the bed and peered down at me.

"Artemis?" she asked, causing me to give her the wave of the hand.

"Winchester, I swear that if you don't help me off the floor, you're going to be in for a nasty surprise later," I said as I stared up at his blurry, smirking figure.

"Your threats have no meaning, princess," he said, causing me to scoff.

"Fine then. Sam, if you could be a doll and get me the keys to the Impala," I said as I tilted my head so that Sam's figure was in my blurry sight. He let out a chuckle and held out his hand, which I took without question, causing him to pull me up into a sitting position and hand me my glasses so that I could see everyone properly.

"Sammy, if you give her the keys to the Impala, you'll be dead meat," Dean said, causing me to roll my eyes before getting back on the bed, punching Dean in the arm as I did so. He gave me a glare and I merely stuck my tongue out at him before I looked over to Sam and Kiki, who were looking at one another and then at us.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she replied, causing my eyes to narrow since I knew she was lying. I knew she was lying because she was looking at her fingers and biting on her lip. She always did that when she was hiding something or lying.

"You know I know you're lying, right?" I asked, causing her to groan as she buried her face in the sleeve of Sam's shirt. Dean rolled his eyes and threw himself back into his spot as Sam shook his head.

"What?" I asked as I looked over at him. He merely stared at me for a minute before speaking.

"It's nothing. But…"

"But what?" I asked.

"You and Dean make a cute couple," Kiki replied, causing my jaw to drop and Dean to shoot up quickly from bed to stare at the couple in the bed next to ours. Kiki had her face hidden in her hands and Sam was smiling sheepishly as we both gave them a murderous look for even suggesting that.

"Which one of you do I kill first for even suggesting that?" Dean asked, causing me to, for once in the time we had spent with the guys, nod in agreement.

"Neither. We were just making a mere observation. You guys look good together despite you two really hate one another. Which I don't think you guys really do," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes and get out of the bed.

"Ok. Who are you and what have you done with my brother and Kiki?" Dean asked as I threw myself into one of the chairs at the table and pulled Kiki's laptop toward me.

"Shut up, Dean. I was being serious. But whatever. Artemis Flora Summers, what the fuck are you doing?" I peered over the top of the laptop to my best friend as she stared at me with a questionable look.

"Ignoring you," I replied before I turned my attention back to what I was doing. I could hear Kiki beginning to talk to Sam, but I immediately ignored them as I slipped my ear pieces in and put on "Velvet Touch" by the 69 Eyes. Typing away on the keyboard, I was aware that the lights had been turned out once again and my companions were turning in to sleep once again, but I was unaware of Dean watching me. I was so unaware that he was watching me that I almost jumped out of my skin when his green eyes pierced through the darkness at me as he leaned over the table with the computer screen illuminating his face just slightly.

"Fuck! Don't do that," I hissed as he threw himself into a chair next to me with that cocky smile of his.

"Why not? It's fun," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and turn my attention back to the screen. I knew he was watching me and I was trying my best to ignore him, but it was just impossible as I could feel his eyes just burning into my skin.

"Ok. What is your problem?" I asked as I looked over at him.

"You. What the hell are you always listening to with this fucking thing?" he asked as he reached over the laptop and grabbed my iPod to start flipping through it. I merely rolled my eyes and handed him one of my ear pieces, causing him to take it and put it in his own ear. Watching his reactions, I merely chuckled and shook my head as he gave me a look.

"Who are these dudes?" he asked.

"The 69 Eyes. They're a Finnish rock group that believe they're vampires," I replied, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

"Real vampires?" he asked.

"Yup. Although I probably wouldn't disagree since we see everything so unnatural. Anyways, they're hot. I like they're music. So much better than what you listen to," I replied, causing him to give me a glare.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"You heard me. Why do you think I just put my ear pieces into my ears when we're in the car? One, music puts me to sleep when I'm tired. Two, I don't want to listen to you, Sam, and Kiki run your mouths about what we've hunted or argue about what we're going to be hunting next. That's why you never hear me getting in the middle of it unless I really need to. And third, you're singing is absolutely horrible. I don't know how Sam has put up with you for so long with you singing so horribly to the music you play. It amazes me," I replied, shaking my head.

"And you think you can do better?" he asked.

"I can do ten times better than you can. Kiki would testify to it," I replied, causing him to snort with laughter as he skimmed through my iPod more.

"I'm sure she would. Well if you think you can do so much better than me, let's hear you," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Dean, it's 2:30 in the morning and both Kiki and Sam are asleep. Again. I don't think so," I said, causing him to roll his eyes and smirk.

"Come on, princess. What are you? Scared? Am I really going to have a laugh at your expense?" he asked, causing me to scoff.

"At my expense? Winchester, you better be taking that back. Nobody is laughing at my expense," I replied.

"So sing. Who cares about those two anyways? They're too wrapped up in one another to even notice what the hell we're doing," he said, causing me to roll my eyes again.

"Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure that you shot up in bed quite quickly when Kiki said what she said. And if I remember correctly, you asked them which one you should kill first. So apparently they're not quite wrapped up in themselves as we think they are. Or well you think they are," I said.

"You're stalling, Summers," he said.

"You're asking these questions. Or well stating what you think is so obvious and it really isn't obvious," I said, causing him to roll his eyes as he swore. I merely smirked and leant back into my chair as I began hitting the keys.

"I always knew you were chicken," he said, causing my movements to stop as my eyes narrowed and turned toward him. He merely smirked and leant back in his chair as he continued to scroll through my list of songs.

"What did you just call me, you prick?" I asked.

"I called you a chicken because you won't do just one simple thing. So it also proves that you can't sing," he replied, causing me to scoff.

"So what? You just want me to sing at 2:30 in the fucking morning? Wake up Kiki and Sam? Have you lost your mind?" I asked.

"We're not doing anything but sitting here since we can't sleep because of those two. So it would be like payback. If you can't sing that is," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes and make a grab for my iPod. However, he held it out of reach and shook his head.

"I'll choose. It amazes me about some of the music you have on this thing. There's a lot of everything, which doesn't make any sense since you're like this rocker like chick," he said as he gave me a look. I merely shrugged in response.

"Alright. So a verse and a chorus. Prove me wrong and we'll make Sammy make sure that the coffee you're thinking about spilling on me in the morning is extra hot. Prove me right and let's just say you'll hate me even more at the next bar we go to," he said with as I rolled my eyes and took my iPod away from him to see what he had chosen.

"Danity Kane? You want me to sing "Poetry?" What makes you think that I'll have trouble with this?" I asked as I looked up at him.

"It seems like a pretty romantic song just by looking at the title. And you don't have one romantic bone in your body. So stop stalling and sing. One verse and one chorus," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes and press the play button on my iPod. Listening to the beat of the song, I shut my eyes and just let the words slip out softly.

_When I stand in a crowded room  
__I feel alone like nobody's there  
__And when you speak so cold to me  
__I can see your breath in the air  
__It's taking its toll on me  
__In the bathroom taking showers  
__So you don't see me cry  
__Baby it's such a crime_

_I've tried to feel confident  
__I'm bitter, you're not making sense  
__I missed you till you almost took  
__My sanity, I'm starting a new verse_

_Like poetry  
__Hiding behind the words you speak  
__Changing the words of the story  
__You say you don't love me  
__Then say that you love me  
__I'm fighting  
__You're hiding behind the words you speak  
__You're speaking  
__Changing the words  
__I'm lost in the verse  
__You say you don't love me  
__Then say that you love me  
__Why are you hiding?_

Shifting my eyes open as I softly sang the last word, I saw that Dean was sitting there with just a shocked expression. Glad that it was dark, I blushed slightly and turned my attention back to the computer screen as I set my iPod on the table. I don't know why I blushed, but the look he was giving me just made me blush for absolutely no reason. I just didn't know.

"Where did you learn to sing like that?" I blinked in surprise when his hand gently turned my face toward his and I saw how serious he was asking that question.

"My mom," I replied, causing him to give me a look of confusion.

"Your mom? And you're doing this shit? What Sammy and I do?" he asked, causing me to pull away from him and stare at the screen of the computer. I really didn't want to talk about my family, especially with Dean.

"Your parents don't know you're doing this, do they?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"My parents are dead, Dean. They've been dead since I was 5 and 8. So no they don't know that I hunt the supernatural," I replied, causing his expression to soften just a bit as he gave me a look of surprise.

"And you've been on your own since?" he asked.

"I'd really not like to discuss this with you, Dean. I'm going to bed," I replied as I shut the computer lid before standing up and walking over to the bed. I heard Dean stand up and shuffle toward the bed, but I completely ignored him as I set my glasses on the side table and curled up beneath the blankets.

"Artemis…"

"Dean, I just want to go to sleep. I'll harass you in the morning or you can harass me. Or whatever the hell. Good night," I said as I cut him off before shutting my eyes. Feeling the bed shift from his weight, I sighed as I looked over at Sam and Kiki, who were peacefully sleeping like there nothing wrong on the outside world. I knew Dean was staring at me, but I just couldn't bring myself to say anything to him. Something was happening to me and I really wasn't sure what it was. All I knew was that it had to do with Dean. But what?

* * *

"Tell me why we're stuck at a bar in Chicago while Sammy and Dean are out having all the real fun?"

"Because they were going to check out the apartment where the one chick died at. Something about the alarm still being on and the killer just escaping. Only takes one or two people to do that job. Not four. Besides, they would probably pull it off a lot better than us. I think we need another beer." I let out a laugh at Kiki as she motioned to the bartender to bring us another set of beers before shaking my head and pocketing a stripe at the pool table. We had a fair amount of guys watching us as we laughed and played several games of pool, which really didn't bother me like it normally would if we were out with the guys. I just wanted to have a good time and relax even though I knew we were once again on a case. Having searched the internet a few days prior, I happened to come across some girl being maliciously murdered without any trace of the murderer in sight. Having talked to Sam, we knew we had to come to Chicago to check it out. And so here Kiki and I were. Hanging out at the local bar and waiting for Dean and Sammy to show up from their last "job." Apparently they were the alarm company this time. Don't ask.

"So I never got to ask you about Dean," Kiki said, bringing me out of my thoughts as I pocketed another stripe and walked around the table to take another shot.

"What about Dean?" I asked.

"Well obviously you two were up after the one night when the both of you woke Sammy and I up," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"But it doesn't mean anything. We were just talking and I sang for him because….."

"Wait a minute. You sang? For him? In front of him? Like vocally sang?" she asked as she gave me a surprised look.

"Yes. He called me a chicken because I wouldn't sing since you and Sammy were sleeping and I wasn't having any of it. He was surprised that I could sing and that's why he got an extra hot cup of coffee dumped on him the morning after. Other than that, nothing was said or done because he wanted to know about my parents and I just went to bed," I replied, shrugging as she gave me a look.

"Artemis…"

"Look. I know what you're going to say. That I should open up to someone. Well you know what? I have. Sam. And that's it. I don't need anyone else to talk to about what's going on," I said, causing her to give me a look.

"Artemis…"

"Kiki, I tell you a lot of things. But some things you would never understand. Things that I've been talking to with Sam are only because Sam understands what I'm telling him. Understands why I'm feeling the way I do. Something you and Dean just wouldn't understand," I said.

"Yeah. Because every time we turn around he's hitting on some girl," she said, causing me to turn around to find Dean at the bar flirting with one of the other bartenders. I rolled my eyes and pocketed the 8-ball, causing cheers to erupt from the guys watching us. Kiki laughed at the gesture, but her expression suddenly turned serious, causing me to give her a look before turning around to see Sam walking through the door and running a hand through his hair like something was wrong. Giving Kiki a look, I set the cue stick down and grabbed my beer before following her over to where Sam had taken a seat. I gave him a nod and sat down as Kiki gave him a slight kiss and looked over his shoulder as he pulled out some papers.

"Talked to the bartender."

"Like we didn't know that one," I said as Dean came up and sat down beside me. He gave me a look and rolled his eyes before turning his attention to his brother.

"Did you get anything? Besides her number?" Sam asked.

"Dude! I'm a professional. I'm offended that you would think that," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes and looked over at Kiki. She merely shook her head and sighed.

"Alright! Heh-heh," he said, causing me to shake my head in mere annoyance. Could he never take this job seriously without thinking about a female?

"You mind doing a little bit of thinking with your upstairs brain, Dean?" Sam asked.

"Huh? Look. There's nothing to find out. Meredith worked here. She waited tables. Everyone here's her friends. Everybody says she was normal. She didn't do or say anything weird before she died. So…."

"So nothing? We've got nothing?" I asked.

"Nothing. What about that symbol? Anything?" he asked, causing me and Kiki to shake our heads.

"We tried to find it after Sam sent it to my laptop, but we had no luck," Kiki replied as I nodded in agreement.

"So we just came here and have been drinking and playing pool. Waiting for you two to show up," I added as I sipped at my beer.

"I see," he said, shaking his head.

"I got nothing too. It wasn't in dad's journal or any of the usual books. So that means I'll just have to dig a little deeper, I guess," Sam said.

"Well, there was a first victim, right, before Meredith?" he asked, causing Sam to nod as we showed us the papers he had pulled out of the journal when he had first sat down. Looking at them, I saw that one was of the girl Meredith that the boys had checked out in her apartment for the alarm and the other was of an older man.

"Right, yeah. His name was, uh….his name was Ben Swardstrom. Last month he was found mutilated in his townhouse. Same deal. The door was locked. The alarm was on," Sam replied.

"Is there any kind of connection that you could make of it? Anything that happened maybe centuries ago or years ago that just started up again?" I asked.

"Nope. Not that I can tell. I mean, not yet at least. Ben was a banker. Meredith was a waitress. They never met or never knew anyone in common. They were pretty much practically from different worlds," Sam replied.

"So to recap, the only successful intel we've scored so far is the bartender's phone number?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes and take another sip of my beer. I swear that one of these days I was just going to bang his head against the wall for good measure.

"What?" I snapped out of my thoughts as Sam got up out of his seat and walked away from us. Looking at Dean, I saw that he had a look of confusion on his face just as much as Kiki did. Turning my head, I saw Sam approach what I think was a blonde and begin to converse with her.

"Who is he talking to?" I asked as I looked at my remaining companions.

"Meg," Kiki replied before she walked toward Sam and the girl, leaving Dean and I to look at one another in confusion. What was going on and why was Sam just up and walking over to some random chick in a Chicago bar? Especially when he had Kiki? Was I going to have to seriously do some damage control to his brain?

"Kiki doesn't look to happy. Am I going to do some damage control to your brother?" I asked as I looked at Dean, causing him to shake his head.

"I doubt it. You coming, princess?" he asked, grabbing his father's journal and papers before heading over toward Sam and Kiki. Grabbing my beer, I maneuvered my way around a bunch of guys trying to talk to me and stood next to Dean as he cleared his throat, trying to get the attention of his brother as both Sam and Kiki talked to this chick.

"Dude, cover your mouth," she said, causing me to nearly choke on the mouthful of beer I was drinking. Did she just….yeah she did.

"Yeah. Uh…I'm sorry, Meg. This is, um….heh. This is my brother, Dean," Sam said as he kind of introduced the pair since she seemingly knew Kiki already. If this was the girl I think Kiki had told me about, since Sam seemed to know her kind of well, back when Sam was heading to California, she definitely knew Kiki and didn't need an introduction.

"So this is Dean?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied with a nod.

"So you've heard of me?" Dean asked.

"Oh yeah. I've heard of you. Nice, the way you treat your brother like luggage," she said, causing me to spit out the beer in my mouth as I looked at her in shock. Excuse me?

"Sorry?" he asked as he too looked at her in shock.

"Why don't you let him do what he wants to do? Stop dragging him over God's green earth," she replied, causing Sam to shake his head and sigh. He wasn't going to say anything? Oh my evening just keeps getting better.

"How about you shut your fucking mouth," I said, causing her to look over at me. Her eyes swept over me before shaking her head.

"You must be the psycho girl that is friend's with Kiki over her. I wouldn't be surprised if the two of you were dating. You two seem just so perfect for each other," she said, causing my eyes to narrow.

"Excuse me? Who the fuck do you think you are?" I asked as I took a step toward her, only to be stopped by Dean. Looking at him, he merely shook his head to indicate that she really wasn't worth it at this point.

"Okay. Awkward. I'm going to pull Artemis over for another drink. Come on, princess," he said, tugging on my arm and pulling me toward the bar. I was fuming. Who the fuck did that girl think she was talking to Dean that way? Talking to me that way and calling me a psycho or whatnot?

"Calm yourself down, princess. We'll grill my brother and your girlfriend once they're done talking to her. Although I must say that Kiki doesn't have a happy look on her face," he said as he handed me another beer.

"No shit, Dean. Ugh! That girl pisses me off. Who the fuck does she think she is talking to you and me like that? Ugh! She's got some nerve," I snapped, causing Dean to raise an eyebrow and shake his head. I knew he understood I was pissed off, but I knew he knew not to say anything while I was on a rant. He didn't want to be on the end of my wrath if he did. A short while later, Sam and Kiki met back up with us and the four of us headed outside.

"Who the hell was that?" Dean asked as we headed toward the Impala.

"Meg," Kiki replied as she walked ahead, leaving Sam to sigh. I gave a look to Sam that said "We'll talk later" and hurried across the street to catch up to Kiki.

"Hey," I said as I caught up to her.

"Something is so not right about her being her, Artemis," she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow and give her the look of confusion.

"Come again?" I asked.

"Meg. Remember the whole fight thing between Sam and Dean in Indiana and Sam decided to go to Sacramento?" she asked as she stopped and looked at me. I merely nodded because that was an escapade with Dean I could never forget in my entire life. Creepy fucking scarecrows coming to life and trying to kill you for your skin. Ugh!

"Well she's the girl I was telling you about on the phone. Meg is her name. We met her along side a road and then again at the Indiana bus spot. Sam got to talking to her and I don't know. Something just doesn't seem right about her. Didn't then when I met her and still doesn't now. Especially since she was hitting on him even though he distinctively told her I was his girlfriend. Even gave him her phone number," she said, causing my eyes to narrow.

"I'm going to kill him," I said as I spun myself around to walk over to where Dean and Sam were talking. However, Kiki grabbed a hold of my arm hard and spun me around to face her once again.

"Don't. I'll take care of Sam myself. You just watch over Dean. You kill Sam and you won't have anyone to talk to properly," she said, causing me to sigh and rub a hand over my face.

"Kiki…."

"I can take care of Sam myself. Promise me you won't say anything and let me take care of it?" she asked, causing me to sigh again.

"Alright. Fine. But once you've taken care of him, I want a word with him. You understand?" I asked, causing her to shake her head and roll her eyes. I gave her a grin and motioned her to follow me as I made my way back to the boys. Seeing as Dean was starting to walk away from Sam, I gave Sam a look and by the look in his eyes, I could tell he was dreading having to deal with me when Kiki got done with him. I merely gave him a look and hurried to catch up with Dean. It was going to be a long couple of days.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"So this symbol thingy is something no one has seen before? How the fuck are we going to figure this murdering thing out if we don't know what the symbol stands for that's attached to it?"

"How the fuck am I suppose to know, Artemis? You're not helping with your mouth running like it is. And tell me why I got stuck with you again?" I asked as I looked up from Sam's computer to look over at the brightly colored pigtails that were visible over the top of Kiki's laptop. As usual, Artemis had decided to wear one of her brightly colored outfits that made her stand out like a sore thumb. A really cute sore thumb though. She was wearing a bright green spaghetti strapped dress that came down just slightly above her knees, white knee high heeled boots, and her hair pulled back into two pigtails with little green pom-poms on them. Where she had come up with that sexy little number I would never know.

"Wait. What?" I thought, shaking my head as she looked up from the computer.

"Because Kiki wanted to tear Sam apart for what happened at the bar last night. Says Meg is a bad character or something like that. I would believe Kiki on that after what happened at the bar last night. I still want to tear her to shreds," she said as she got up and got us both a beer.

"Think you can take her, princess?" I asked with a smirk, causing her to roll her eyes and hit me in the back of the head.

"Shut up. I can take anyone. And that includes you," she replied as she sat back down and began typing away on the computer. I merely shook my head and turned my attention back to Sam's computer as I continued to look up what we needed. About half an hour later, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Sam's number.

"Hey," he said as he picked up.

"Let me guess. You're lurking outside that girl's apartment?" I asked, causing Artemis to snicker as she got up and started to make herself a sandwich to eat.

"And Kiki's probably not happy. Want one?" she asked, causing me to nod before turning my attention back to my brother.

"Yes I am outside her apartment with Kiki. And yes to Artemis's observation. Even though she's not here," he said, causing me to snicker.

"You got a funny way of showing your affection. Especially since you're girlfriend is sitting right there," I said, causing him to groan in frustration.

"Will you two stop that? It's bad enough I'm getting chewed out here enough by Kiki. I know I'm going to be chewed out by Artemis whenever Kiki's done with me, so I don't need it from you with whatever you're doing. Did you find anything out on her?" he asked, causing me to snicker and give Artemis a nod of thanks as she sat back down with two sandwiches and handed me one.

"Sorry man. She checks out. There's a Meg Masters in the Andover phone book. I even pulled up her high school photo. Now, look, why don't you go knock on her door and, uh, invite her to a poetry reading or whatever it is you do. Huh? Oh wait. You've got your girlfriend sitting right there with you, who is probably upset that you're checking this girl out. Man I hate to be you when Artemis gets a hold of you," I said, causing him to swear as I heard Kiki smack him.

"Will you stop doing that, Dean? I'm going to have bruises on my body by the time Kiki gets through with me. What about the symbol? I'm assuming that you and Artemis are getting along with one another since I don't hear any bitching from you about her. Any luck on that symbol?" he asked.

"Yeah. That I did have some luck with. It's uh…it turns out it's Zoroastrian. Very, very old school, like 2000 years before Christ. It's a sigil for a Daeva," I replied.

"What's a Daeva?" Artemis asked as she got up and leaned over my shoulder to read in the book I had open in front of me.

"Translates to "demon of darkness." Zoroastrian demons. And they're savage and animalistic. You know, kind of nasty attitudes. Kind of like, uh, demonic pit bulls," I replied.

"How'd you figure that one out?" he asked, causing me to scoff.

"Give me some credit, man. I can chase paper too," I replied, causing Artemis to snort with laughter as she sat back down.

"Oh yeah. Name the last book you read," he said, causing me to go kind of silent. Artemis looked at me with a questionable look, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Uh, I called dad's friend Caleb. He told me, alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Here's the thing. These Daevas have to be summoned or conjured," I said.

"So someone's controlling it?" he asked.

"Yeah. That's what I'm saying. And from what I gather, it's pretty risky business too. These suckers tend to bite the hand that feeds them. And the, uh…the arms and torsos," I replied, causing Artemis to look at me for a second before pushing her plate away with disgust. I merely smirked, causing her to flip me off before I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my brother.

"So what do they look like?" he asked.

"Nobody's seen them for a couple of millennia. I mean, summoning a demon that ancient, someone really knows their stuff. I think we got a major player in town. Now, why don't you give that girl a private strip-o-gram," I replied, causing Artemis to roll her eyes. I merely chuckled as I heard Sam swear again from the smack I heard from Kiki.

"I'm so going to kill you later. Way before Artemis even gets the chance," he said, causing me to just chuckle. He hung up on me before I could even say anything else, causing me to shake my head and put my phone in my pocket before turning my gaze toward Artemis. She was staring at me with a look of disbelief.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you trying to ruin a perfectly good relationship between your brother and my best friend?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"It's just all in good fun, Summers," I replied as I got up and went over toward our bags.

"Well, it's not to Kiki. She got screwed over really bad the last time she dated a "nice" guy and doesn't want to be hurt again. I don't want to see my best friend heart broken again, Dean. I'm being bloody dead fucking serious about this. If your brother hurts my friend, I'm going to fucking bury his bloody fucking body so far under ground that you won't even be able to get to him," she said, causing me to turn around quite quickly.

"Are you threatening my little brother?" I asked, causing her to scoff.

"Are you really this bloody stupid, Dean? Are you seriously saying that it's bloody ok for you to make jokes around someone who has been seriously hurt by a guy just like Sam in the past. Not saying that your brother isn't a good guy because he is probably one of the most bloodiest brilliant guys I have met myself. He's sweet and charming and has total respect for people. Unless you piss him off to an extent. But I don't want to see my best friend hurt. I've seen enough people in my life, Dean, hurt because of something like this. I just don't want it to happen to Kiki," she replied.

"And you think that Sam is going to be just like the guy that screwed her over the last time? What is wrong with you, Summers? Haven't you spent enough time with Sam to know that Sam is not exactly the normal type of nice guy?" I asked.

"I know what kind of guy Sam is, Dean. I'm just saying that if your brother screws her over for any reason, you're going to have a problem on your hands. Let's just keep it at that," she replied before going toward the bathroom. I merely shook my head and went back over toward our things to get something. However, something pink between the girls' bags caught my eye and I grabbed it, pulling up on it to reveal a fluffy pink rabbit. Or well what was once a fluffy pink rabbit. It was kind of raggedy now, like it was a child's stuffed animal years ago, with it's beady little eyes staring up at me. I couldn't tell which girl it belonged to since it wasn't in either one of their bags, but I had an idea that it probably belonged to Kiki since Artemis just wasn't that girly.

"Hey Dean. Do you think….what are you doing?" I stood up with the rabbit in my hands and looked at Artemis as she stood in the doorway of the bathroom looking at me in confusion.

"This was on the floor with our bags. Obviously it belongs to one of you two girls. I'm thinking Kiki since you're not girly enough. But seriously. Why would she want to carry a rabbit around with her? She's what? 22?" I asked as she came toward me.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her when Sam and her come back here? I'm sure she can explain it to you," she replied as she reached out to take the rabbit from me. I was about to say something, but I stopped when I felt a sudden pain shoot through my head and a vision pass through my mind.

_Flashback_

"_Ferris wheel?"_

"_Too high."_

"_Bumper cars?"_

"_Too fast."_

"_Cotton candy?"_

"_Too sticky."_

"_Artemis Flora Summers, you need to pick something or we will go home. We've come to the fair to have fun and you're not being any fun." A young couple stared down at their five year old daughter, who merely rolled her eyes._

"_I want to play games. I want to win a goldfish," she said as she pointed toward an area where about 20 or more games were set up to be played._

"_Alright. Come on. We'll play some games. We'll bring home a million goldfish," her father said as he hoisted her up into her arms and headed toward the games. She let out a giggle as he pressed a kiss to her cheek, causing a deep laugh to erupt from the man as they made their way toward the game with the goldfish. However, a tug on the shirt caused him to look at his daughter as she pointed toward another game where stuffed animals were hanging along a wall._

"_Look! A bunny!" she squealed as she pointed to a pink rabbit hanging along the wall._

"_Artemis, I thought you wanted a goldfish," her mother asked as she gave her daughter a look._

"_I want the bunny. Please daddy?" she asked as she looked at her father. The looks exchanged between the couple became a smile as he started walking in the direction of the pink rabbit, causing the little girl to squeal in delight._

"_Step right up! 5 dollars for 6 darts! Nail 6 balloons and win any prize along the wall!" Handing his daughter to his wife, the man stepped up to the game and placed five dollars on the bench before proceeding to throw the six darts at the balloons. Hit, hit, hit, hit, miss, hit. _

"_Oh. Nice try. Would you like to try again?" the carnie asked, causing the man to look at his wife as she nodded. Placing another five dollars down, he proceeded to throw the darts. Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, miss._

"_Oh. Nice try once again. Would you like to try again?" the carnie asked once again. _

"_Danny, I think we should maybe move on to another game," the woman said as her husband looked at her._

"_Once more. Third time is always a charm," he said as he placed another five dollars onto the bench. Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit, and hit._

"_Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Any prize, sir. Any prize from the back wall," the carnie said as he faced the young man._

"_The pink rabbit, please," he replied, causing the carnie to unlatch the rabbit and hand it over to the man. He turned to his daughter, who took it with a squeal as she hugged it to her chest._

"_Mr. Hoppy says thank you," she said, causing her father to reach over and tickle her sides._

"_Mr. Hoppy huh?" he asked as giggles erupted from his daughter. He stared at his daughter and then his wife, causing her to give him a smile. Both bright eyed and a speck of twinkle staring back at him as he wrapped a arm around his wife's waist and placing a kiss on his daughter's forehead before walking away toward another game, the pink rabbit snug in his daughter's arm and never to be let go._

_End of flashback_

My eyes snapped open in surprise and confusion before turning my gaze toward Artemis. I couldn't find anything to say as I watched a tear escape from her closed eyes. Something was seriously wrong, especially because Artemis never cried. Minus the whole event with the Benders a few weeks prior, I don't think I had ever seen her cry.

"Artemis," I said, causing her whole body to go stiff suddenly before her eyes opened and stared at me. I seriously wanted to step back at the icy look that was just sending chills down my spine. Never had I seen them so icy in the entire time I had known her and Kiki.

"Artemis…" But her name has only left my mouth when she yanked the rabbit from my grip and held it tight against her chest before turning around and slamming the door shut. I heard the lock click into place and I sighed as I banged my fist on the door.

"Artemis, what the hell was that?" I asked as I spoke of the vision I had just endured. No doubt that the rabbit belonged to her as I had noticed how possessive she had become over the rabbit.

"Artemis, come out here," I said.

"Go away, Dean," she said, causing me to sigh in frustration. I hated when this girl was this fucking stubborn. Well, if she wasn't going to come out, I wasn't going to make her. But I knew she knew that she would have to come out some time because I knew that Sam would have none of her nonsense. Just because I fought with her didn't mean I didn't notice some of the things going on with her and Sam. Deciding it would be best to wait for Sam, I stalked away from the bathroom and picked up my cell phone. If I had to wait for Miss Bitch, I might as well do something useful.

* * *

Hearing the door open and slam shut, I stalked out of the bathroom just in time to see Sam cast a concerned look toward the beds where Artemis was sitting before turning to look at me.

"Dude, I gotta talk to you," we said at the same time, causing both Artemis and Kiki to look up at us. I gave them a glare and then turned back to my brother.

"I'm going to ask about Artemis in a few minutes because I want to know why she's holding that pink rabbit, but I've got to tell you this. Meg's behind it," he said, causing me to give him a look of shock as he launched himself into whatever it was that he and Kiki had seen.

"So hot little Meg is summoning the Daeva?" I asked as my brother finished, causing him to nod.

"Looks like she as using that black altar to control the thing," he replied.

"So Sammy's got himself a bad girl that seems to be crushing on him. Interesting," I said, causing him to roll his eyes. I gave him a look, but it turned into a glare as I felt a pillow hit the side of my face. Turning toward the girls, I realized that it had been Kiki that threw it as Artemis still remained curled up against the headboard of the bed with the rabbit close to her chest. Sighing and running my hand over my face, I turned toward my brother again.

"And what's the deal with that bowl again?" I asked, causing my brother to sigh.

"She was talking into it. Kind of like the way witches used to scry into crystal balls or entrails. She was communicating," he replied.

"With the Daeva?" I asked.

"No. You said those were savages. No, this was someone different. Someone who's giving her orders. Someone who's coming to that warehouse," he replied, causing me to give him a look before sitting down at the table and looking through the papers I had acquired earlier.

"Holy shit," I said as I looked up at my brother.

"What?" he asked.

"What I was going to tell you earlier. I, uh…I pulled a favor with my, ahem, friend Amy over at the police department after Artemis over there kind of had a melt down. I got the complete records of the two victims. We missed something the first time," I replied, causing him to give me a look.

"What?" he asked as he came toward me and looked at the papers.

"The, uh, first victim, the old man? Spent his life in Chicago, but he wasn't born here. Look," I said as I pointed to something on the paper. Sam looked at it and gave me a look.

"Lawrence, Kansas," he said as I nodded.

"Yeah. And Meredith, the second victim? Turns out she was adopted. And guess where she's from," I said.

"Let me guess. Lawrence, Kansas?" I looked up as Kiki stood next to Sam and looked at me. I gave her a nod and looked over at my brother.

"Holy shit," he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah," I said as I knew what he was getting at.

"I mean, it is where the demon killed mom. So you think Meg's tied up with the demon?" he asked.

"It's a definite possibility after hearing about this," Kiki replied as I nodded.

"But I don't understand. What's the significance of Lawrence? And how do these Daeva things fit in?" he asked, causing me to shrug.

"Beats me. But I saw we trash that black altar, grab Meg, and have ourselves an interrogation," I replied.

"No. We can't We shouldn't tip her off. We got to stake out that warehouse. We have to see who, or what, is showing up to meet her," he said, causing me to sigh.

"I'll tell you one thing. I don't think we should do this alone. I've got enough problems on my hands right now with Artemis," I said, causing both Sam and Kiki to look over at Artemis and then back at me.

"Ok. What happened and why is she holding her rabbit?" Kiki asked, causing me to give her a look.

"So it is hers? It isn't yours?" I asked, causing her to shake her head.

"Dude, what's going on? I've never seen Artemis like this before. I warned her about that rabbit and what would happen with you if you found it when I saw it a few days ago sticking out of her bag," Sam said, causing me to give him a look.

"Warned her? About what?" I asked.

"That you probably wouldn't let her live it down since she really isn't girly," he replied, causing me to shake my head.

"I haven't got time for that. I picked that thing up and as I was talking to Artemis about it, thinking it belonged to Kiki, I had a vision when Artemis touched the fucking thing," I said, causing both my brother and Kiki to give me a look of confusion.

"You what?" he asked.

"I had a vision. Or a memory when both Artemis and I touched that rabbit. Perhaps a memory from her past," I replied.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"Her as a little girl and probably her parents. Something to do with winning that pink rabbit over there at a fair or carnival. Or something like that," I replied, causing Kiki to shake her head and sigh.

"What?" Sam asked as he looked at her.

"That's probably the last thing Artemis has, besides a couple of pictures, to remind her of her dad. She told me that her dad won that for her at a fair just a few weeks prior to her mother's death and that's the last thing she has of him. He died when she was 8," she replied, causing me to swear as I ran a hand through my hair.

"Hey Kiki. Do me a favor and watch over Artemis for a short while I talk with Dean outside," Sam said as he stood up and motioned for me to follow him. Watching Kiki sit down on the edge of the bed and begin talking to Artemis, I sighed and followed my brother outside toward the Impala.

"Dean, I'm not suppose to tell you this, but I think maybe now might be a good time," he said, causing me to look at my brother.

"What?" I asked.

"Artemis is looking for the same demon that killed mom," he replied, causing me to look at him in shock.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"She told you that her mom died when she was 5 and her father when she was 8, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. She didn't want to talk about it at the time and completely avoided me for a while," I replied with a nod.

"Dean, her mother died in a fire. The same way mom died the night the demon came for me," he said, causing me to look at him for a second before my eyes widened.

"What? It went after her?" I asked, causing him to shake his head.

"Her brother. It went after her brother. He died when she was 8 too. But that's not the point. The point is, she's been looking for this demon since she was 14. She was only 5 when it took her mother, so she didn't quite understand anything until she was about 14. When she got into this whole supernatural thing," he replied.

"So wait. You're telling me that you've known this entire time and you didn't tell me?" I asked, causing him to sigh.

"She made me promise not to say anything to either you or Kiki. She told me back when I was having those nightmares or whatever about Max killing off his family members. Remember how she was having those headaches and such whenever I had a vision?" he asked, causing me to nod. How could I forget that?

"Well it's because we share a connection. Something to do with the fact that both of our mothers were killed the exact same way. Pinned to the ceiling, stomach slit open, and burned. Dude, Kiki doesn't even know and Kiki's her best friend. Kiki doesn't truly know what Artemis's agenda is," he replied.

"And her father and her brother?" I asked, causing him to shake his head.

"She won't tell me. All I know is they died when she was 8. She got sent to live with some of her mother's relatives in England and then left when she was 14 to start looking for this demon. Dean, Artemis is just like us," he replied.

"So what do we do? She's not fucking moving and she keeps clutching that thing to her chest like it might disappear from her. She's been like this since the vision," I said, causing him to sigh.

"I don't know, Dean. But I know one thing. She is harmless when she's in one of these states. She…."

"Turns to you when she needs that comfort," I said, causing him to nod.

"I don't know why though. I just don't know what we're going to do. That hard exterior Artemis has around her is breaking with every single escapade we do and it's only a matter of time before something happens that causes Artemis to completely unravel. She's hiding something else, Dean. She keeps saying she's cursed," he said, causing me to give him a look of confusion.

"Cursed? What kind of curse?" I asked.

"I don't know. That's just it. She unraveling little by little but that she won't discuss. No matter what I say to her to get it out, she won't budge. All I know is that she's not only looking for this demon that killed her mother. She's looking…."

"For a way to get out of the curse," I finished for him as he nodded.

"And it bugs me that we can't help since we don't know what it is that she's cursed from," he said, causing me to sigh.

"So let me get this straight. Not only do we have to go to this warehouse and possibly stop Meg from doing something unthinkable that probably has to do with the demon that killed mom, but we also have to figure out what's wrong with Artemis before something happens to her?" I asked. He merely nodded, causing me to swear and run my hand through my hair.

"Dean, I know you don't get along with Artemis, but I know you are not that cold-hearted to let some innocent girl be destroyed by something like this. She doesn't want any help, but I know for a fact that it's eating her alive. Dean, we have to help her without Kiki knowing," he said, causing me to give him a look.

"Keep something like this from her best friend? Sam, Kiki is going to have a cow when she finds out. And it'll probably be a lot worse than what she's putting you through now because of Meg," I said.

"I understand, Dean. But I made a promise to Artemis that I had to break with you because of what happened. Kiki is only here because she likes adventure. She wanted to get away from all of the craziness of her family and Artemis offered her that. Kiki is smart, Dean, because she loves hunting the supernatural probably more than you do. But this is a totally different game to Artemis. She's hunting but it's not for the same reasons as Kiki. And I really don't think Kiki would understand at all. Kiki's got family. Dean, Artemis hasn't got anyone. No one," he said.

"She's not alone, Sam. She has us and Kiki," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"That's not enough to her, Dean. I tried to tell her that, but she won't have any of it. She feels so alone in this world. She lost everything, Dean, the night her mom died and the night her brother died and the night her dad died. The only reason she hasn't taken her own life is because she wants whatever it is that killed her family to suffer. Suffer the way that she has for 16 years," he said.

"So why did I have that vision? Why did I share a memory with her?" I asked.

"Maybe something is happening between you two. You two don't get along, but you're both there when the other needs help. I saw the way you were with her when she was sick and what happened with the Benders. You have heart, Dean, and for once I think you're not seeing Artemis as the cold hearted, icy bitch you really think she is," he replied.

"Sam…"

"Dean, just don't say anything to her about it. Just act like you normally act and she'll be ok. I'll try to talk to her, but the best thing for us to do right now is to maybe just leave her alone. Let her sort herself out. God knows what she has turning up in that brain of hers," he said, causing me to sigh.

"Sam, she's going to want to go after that demon if it is who Meg is communicating with," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"No she's not. You shared that memory with her and now she doesn't know what is going on. You saw her yourself, Dean. She's just staring off into space and clutching that rabbit to her like today is her last day to live. She's in no shape or form to go hunting and you know it. Kiki will look after her. I'll make sure of it," he said, causing me to scoff.

"You really think Artemis is just going to sit back and let us handle this? You said so yourself, Sam. She wants this demon to suffer. She wants a hell of a lot more revenge on this thing than we do. I know for a fact that she's not just going to sit back and let us take it out," I said.

"Since when do you care about what she does, Dean?" he asked, causing my eyes to narrow.

"Just because my heart doesn't bleed every time she seems upset doesn't mean I don't have a heart, Sam. She's an annoying, cold hearted, icy bitch that doesn't give a damn to anything or anyone half the time. She could go burn in hell for all I care. But I do know that when it comes to hunting, I know her better than you do. You may seem to understand her with all this emotional shit, but I know her when it comes to hunting. She's fucking fearless until something happens to her or Kiki. Kiki went missing and what did she do? She wouldn't let me take her to the hospital until Kiki was found. Until you were found. She puts everything on hold for herself for someone else. Just because I don't show it, I've got a fucking huge amount of respect for that girl," I snapped, causing him to give me a look.

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes and start walking away from him.

"Talk to Artemis. I can guarantee you that she's coming," I replied as I threw open the trunk of the Impala. If there was one thing I knew about Artemis it was that she was a stubborn bitch when it came to hunting. And now with the new information given to me by Sam, I knew there was no way the Miss Bitch was going to back away from this if told. I knew something was going on past all of this, but for now, it was sufficient for me to know exactly what was making Artemis the way she was. If we could only help her the rest of the way.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"I'm totally going to kill him. Who does he think he is telling me that I have to stay here and watch over you while he and Dean go after Meg? I should be the one to rip her to shreds since she was trying everything in the god damn book to put moves on Sam even though he told her I was his girlfriend. And what does he do? Not a god damn fucking thing. Are you going to be alright for a little bit while I go outside to sit and think?" I looked up from my spaced out daze to Kiki and looked at her for a second before giving her a nod. Swearing underneath her breath, she slipped on her shoes and made her way out the door, shutting and locking it behind her. Shaking my head, I rested my head back on the pillow on the bed and clutched the pink rabbit in my arms tightly. I was so confused on what had happened with Dean. Why he had seen such a wonderful memory when he had touch the rabbit. I knew he was confused and didn't seem to understand, but that wasn't what got me. Why? Why had he seen it?

"I'm so not going to live this down though," I muttered as I tilted my head to look at the beady eyes of Mr. Hoppy staring at me. I felt tears start coming to my eyes and I quickly got up off the bed to head toward the bathroom. I had done enough crying for the day and I didn't need to cry anymore. Especially almost in front of Dean. Splashing water on my face, I began to feel a bit better and just as I reached for a towel, I heard the door open and close.

"I'm in the bathroom washing my face. I'll be right out and then we can talk, Kiki," I said as I began to dry my face. A few minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom and looked around to find Kiki, only to find that there was no one there.

"That's strange. I didn't hear the door open or close again," I thought as I walked toward the door. Opening the door, I looked left and right and saw nothing. Shaking my head, I shut the door and turned around, only ducking just in time as something slammed above my head. Eyes wide at the man standing before me, I kicked him in the leg and moved out of the way just as he made a grab for me. Quickly flipping myself up, I blocked a hit and knocked him slightly backwards, but that didn't do me any good when I found myself slamming against the wall across the room. Trying to stand up, I found myself suddenly sunk into darkness with a heavy hit to the back of the head. I don't know how long I was out, but a couple of light hits to my cheeks seemed to bring me out of that state.

"Come on, princess. Time to wake up."

"Dean?" I whispered in confusion as my eye sight tried to focus itself back right.

"That a girl. You seem to be getting just a bit rusty, princess," he replied as I felt his hands slide across my arms and to my hands, which I realized were tied behind my back. Blinking, my eye sight seemed to be alright as I took in the sight of him while he was crouched in front of me trying to untie my hands from behind me. He had blood along the side of his face and he kind of looked like somebody put him through the wringer.

"I am not rusty. Although my head does hurt. I was attacked. And you look like hell," I said, causing him to blink for a second as he stared at me before shaking his head and standing up, offering me his hand as he did so. I grabbed it and allowed him to pull me up, straightening my dress as I he did so. As I lifted my head, I caught sight of the man standing near and my eyes narrowed. Sensing what I was about to do, Dean grabbed me around the waist and pushed me toward Sam, who held a very confused Kiki by the waist as well.

"Artemis, our dad didn't mean to attack you," Sam said as he gave me an apologetic look.

"Didn't mean to? I have a fucking bloody headache thanks to him. What the fuck is he thinking?" I asked as I threw a glare over to where the man was standing. You could really tell that this was Sam and Dean's dad just by one look. No explanation about it.

"He thought maybe you two were involved in whatever we were doing when we left the two of you here. He saw Meg take the swan dive out the window and thought maybe you two were spies or something," Dean replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Do I look like a fucking bloody spy, Dean? Did you even tell your father you had two female hunters with you? That we've been with you for several weeks?" I asked as I threw Sam's hand off of me and stalked toward Dean. He merely stared at me, causing me to scoff and turn to the man now known as their father.

"So I'm left to understand they didn't tell you about us. Attack forgotten since it was your bloody fucking sons' fault. I'm Artemis and that there is Kiki. We're hunters ourselves and we've been traveling with your boys for a few weeks now. Since the asylum incident," I said, causing him to stare at me for a second before nodding.

"Attack forgotten. I'm John Winchester, Sam and Dean's father," he said, causing me to nod and walk toward Dean again.

"You and Sam both look like hell. What happened?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"We went after Meg," he replied, causing me to give him a look of confusion.

"Meg? Why?" I asked.

"You must of really been out of it, princess. Don't worry about it. It was a trap anyways. You probably would have gotten hurt," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Gee. Thanks for being so concerned," I said before walking toward the bed and picking up the rabbit that had laid forgotten earlier on. Staring at it for a second, I turned my attention back to the rest of them.

"So what became of Meg?" I asked.

"Dad saw her take the swan dive about seven stories or so out of the warehouse," Sam replied, causing me to nod and walk back over to Dean.

"I had a feeling she was the bad guy. It didn't surprise me. It's tried stopping me before," John said, causing both of his sons to look at him in surprise.

"The demon has?" Sam asked, causing me to look over at him. Say what?

"It knows I'm close. It knows I'm going to kill it. Not just exorcise it or send it back to hell. Actually kill it," he replied as he looked between his sons. Kill it? Wait a minute.

"Wait. You were going after a demon?" I asked, causing both boys to look over at me.

"Artemis…."

"You two went after Meg because you thought she was having contact with the demon? You two went after it and left the two of us behind?" I asked as my eyes narrowed.

"Art…."

"Sam!" I exclaimed as I looked at him with an expression that I couldn't even tell myself. I was just so upset at this point.

"I told you she wasn't going to be happy, Sam. How?" he asked as he turned his attention back to his father, who gave me a strange look before looking at his son.

"I'm working on that," John replied with a small chuckle.

"Well, let us come with you. We'll help," Sam said.

"No Sam. Not yet. Listen, try to understand. This demon is a scary son o f a bitch. I don't want you caught in the crossfire. I don't want you to get hurt," he said, shaking his head.

"Dad, you don't have to worry about us. You're not the only one looking for that demon," Sam said as his eyes shifted over to me before looking back at his father. John gave me another look before shaking his head.

"Of course I have to worry about you. I'm your father. Listen, Sammy, uh….last time we were together, we had one hell of a fight," he said, causing Sam to nod.

"Yes sir," Sam said.

"It's good to see you again. It's been a long time," he said.

"Too long," Sam said, causing me to sigh and run a hand over my face. As much as I loved Sam like a brother, I really wasn't in the mood for this whole chick flick thing or whatever the hell you wanted to call it. The fact of the matter was, the demon they had gone after was still out there and I wanted to go out and find it. Not sit around here listening to the Winchester family reunite or whatever the hell they were doing at this moment.

"Hey guys. Not meaning to break up this happy reunion or whatever the hell is going on, but…." I didn't even finish my sentence as I was sent sailing across the room with a quick fluid motion. I barely had time to put air into my lungs when I let out a scream as I felt something just rip across my chest.

"Artemis!" I let out another scream as I felt whatever it was scratch my cheek. What was happening? Why were they after us now?

"Shut your eyes! They're shadow demons! Let's light them up!" I quickly shielded my eyes as a sudden bright light lit up the room and whatever was attacking me, the Daevas I think, moved away with a scream. I felt myself being hauled up and an arm lock securely around my waist before hurriedly moving along. I knew it was Dean just by his handling and I buried my face into his chest as he helped his dad as well try to get out of the building.

"Alright. Come on. We don't have much time. Soon as the flare is out, they'll be back." I groaned as I heard Sam's voice as we came to a stop, but I didn't let go of Dean as he began to speak.

"No, wait. Wait. Sam, wait. Dad, you can't come with us," he said as I turned my head just slightly as Sam looked between his father and his brother.

"What? What are you talking about?" Sam asked as he gave his brother a crazy look.

"You boys….You're beat to hell. The girls, especially Artemis, are as well," John said.

"We'll be alright," Dean said.

"Dean, we should stick together. We'll go after this demon together," Sam said.

"Sam, listen. We almost got dad killed in there. Don't you understand? They're not gonna stop. They're going to try again. They'll use us to get to him. I mean, Meg was right. Dad's vulnerable when he's with us. He…he's stronger without us around," Dean said, causing Sam to shake his head.

"Dad. No. Not after everything. After all the time we've spent looking for you….please. I gotta be part of this fight," Sam said as he looked at his father. I was beginning to get kind of dizzy and my grip tightened on Dean as I watched the exchange between father and son.

"Sammy, this fight is just starting. And we are all going to have a part to play. For now, got to trust me, son. Okay? You got to let me go. You need to put your focus on the girls right now. You're putting them into danger as well by being with me. Especially her," John said as he motioned to me. I watched as he eyes locked with mine and I immediately knew that their father knew what was happening. He knew I was looking for that demon too.

"Come on, princess," Dean said as he opened to the door to the Impala and gently set me down inside. I gave him a look before letting it shift to their father as he gave me a look. He stared at me for about a minute before giving me a small smile and a nod before walking away from the car. I sighed and shook my head before leaning my head against the backseat and shutting my eyes. It wasn't long before I heard the car doors opening and the car moving backwards. Opening my eyes, I saw buildings starting to move backwards before the car suddenly lurched forward and began peeling down the street. Looking at the front, I caught Dean's look in the rearview mirror and for a split second I thought I saw a flicker of worry or concern in his eyes.

"Are you alright, princess?" he asked, causing me to nod. He gave me another look before his attention turned back toward the road. It wasn't long before he was pulling the car over at some gas station.

"Sam, take care of Kiki. I'll look after Artemis," he said, causing Sam to nod and both Sam and Kiki get out of the Impala and head toward the store while Dean got out and opened the back door to the Impala to look me over. I flinched slightly as he pressed a cloth to my cheek, causing him to shake his head as he moved me backwards so he could sit down.

"Those suckers got you pretty good. Ruined a pretty cute number too," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and hit him in the chest as he let out a laugh.

"Fucking prick," I said, shaking my head. There was a few minutes of silence before he spoke.

"Are you going to be ok?" he asked, causing me to look up at him as he looked at me with much concern. I stared at him before sighing.

"I know you know, Dean. I know Sam told you," I replied, causing him to look at me before nodding.

"It would have been nice to know that you were looking for the same demon we were," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"I thought it might be easier not having anyone know," I said, causing him to shake his head this time.

"You were wrong. You got hurt tonight, Artemis. That demon that killed our mothers is not stupid. Why won't you tell Kiki what it is that you're really looking for?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"I just think it would be better to let her not know. There is so much you or your brother understand and I think it would just best be left that you don't know or Kiki know for that matter. She's better off not knowing," I replied, causing him to shake his head.

"And what are you going to do if she finds out, Artemis?" he asked.

"I'll deal with it if it comes to that. But you nor Sam can tell her. It would be best if she was left in the dark," I replied, causing him to sigh.

"Artemis…"

"Please Dean. I never ask you to do anything for me," I said as I looked at him. He stared at me for a second before sighing.

"You're so fucking stubborn," he said, causing me to chuckle before sighing. He gave me a questionable look and I shrugged.

"I can't believe that Mr. Hoppy is gone for good," I said, causing him to look at me in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"My rabbit. I dropped him when the Daeva slammed me against the wall. I've dragged him everywhere since my dad won him for me when I was five. I'm sure Sam told you the story," I said, causing him to nod before reaching across the front of the seats and pulling up a thing of pink fur. My eyes widened when I realized it was Mr. Hoppy.

"Sam told me that it was the last link you have to your dad besides a couple of pictures. I figured you would be really miserable if it was completely lost forever," he said as he handed it to me. I stared at it for a second before crushing it to my chest and trying hard not to cry. Looking up at Dean, I could feel the tears threatening to spill.

"Artemis…." But I cut him off as I threw my arms around him and buried my face into his chest just as the tears started to fall. I was so grateful to him for doing what he did by giving me my rabbit back. I was surprised that he had such a heart like that, but I guess seeing his dad for the first time in a couple of months made him realize what exactly I was feeling with having lost both of my parents. Feeling his arms lock around me in a bit of a protective manner, I let out a sob as I finally felt some of my world come crashing down. My shield. My barrier I had put up when I was younger.

"We're going to get through this, Artemis. I promise," Dean said, stroking my back as I nodded. I could feel something happening to me and it was happening fast. I couldn't quite put my finger on it and for the first time in my life, I was afraid. What the hell was happening to me?


	9. Chapter 8: Hell House

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****:** Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as she clashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Hell House**

"Hey Art?"

"What?"

"Where's the rabbit?"

"In my bag. Why?"

"Bring him out."

"Why?"

"Sam's asleep." I looked up from sketch pad to see Dean looking at me through the rearview with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Raising an eyebrow, I leaned forward and peered over the front seat of the Impala to find that Sam was indeed sleeping. With his mouth slightly open if I might add. Looking over at Dean, I gave him a smirk and knew exactly what he was getting at. Checking to make sure that Kiki was still asleep as well, I leaned down and pulled Mr. Hoppy out of my bag before leaning over the front seat and carefully placing him beneath Sam's right arm. Looking over at Dean, he snickered and placed a plastic spoon into his brother's mouth before pulling out his cell phone. Wanting in on this picture, I carefully wrapped my arms around Sam and pretended like I was going to kiss him as I turned to face Dean with a slight smirk. Chuckling, he opened up his cell phone and snapped a picture, causing me to quickly sit back in my seat and grab my sketch pad as Dean blasted the music. I let out a laugh as both Sam and Kiki shot up from their sleep, Sam sort of gagging on the spoon in his mouth. Sam turned around and gave me a glare before looking over at Dean.

"Ha-ha. Very funny, you two," he said, causing me to snicker as I leant forward and grabbed Mr. Hoppy out from beneath his arm, making kissing noises as I put the rabbit against his face. He gave me a glare as he shoved me back into my seat.

"Sorry. Not a lot of scenery here in east Texas. Kind of got to make your own," Dean said, causing me to snicker.

"Man, we're not kids anymore, Dean. We're not gonna start that shit again," he said.

"Start what up?" Dean asked.

"That prank stuff. It's stupid, and it always escalates," he replied with a bit of an attitude.

"Aw…What's the matter, Sammy? You afraid you're going to get a little Nair in your shampoo again, huh?" Dean asked, causing me to start laughing as I began to picture Sam with the Nair in his hair. Kiki gave me a glare and smack me in the arm before proceeding to smack Dean in the back of the head.

"Stop it, you two. Dean, you're just as bad as Artemis in the child department," she said, shaking her head.

"Come on, Kiki. Live a little. So Dean and I got a little bored. There was no harm done," I said as I tucked my rabbit safely beneath my arm and began to sketch again.

"Whatever. Just remember this. You started it," Sam said as he gave Dean a look, causing Dean to snicker.

"Ho-ho. Bring it on, baldy," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Ok. Enough of this talk. Where are we?" Kiki asked as she changed the subject, a thing she was all too good at when she could feel the tension in the air.

"A few hours outside Richardson. Give me the lowdown again," he replied, causing Sam to pick up a few pieces of paper sitting on the dashboard in front of him.

"Alright. About a month or two ago, this group of kids go poking around this local haunted house…."

"Haunted by what?" I asked as I put my sketch pad down and leant against the front seat.

"Apparently, a pretty misogynistic spirit. Legend goes that it takes girls and strings them up in the rafters. Anyways, this group of kids see this dead girl hanging in the cellar," Sam replied.

"Anybody ID the corpse?" Kiki asked.

"Well, that's the thing. By the time the cops got there, the body was gone. So cops are saying the kids were just yanking chains," he replied.

"Maybe the cops are right," Dean said as I nodded in agreement.

"Maybe, but I read a couple of the kids' firsthand accounts. They seem pretty sincere," he replied.

"Where'd you read these accounts?" Dean asked.

"Well, I knew we were going to be passing through Texas, so, uh, last night I surfed some local paranormal websites. And I found one," he replied, causing me to scoff and shake my head. Sam could be a handful sometimes.

"And what's it called?" Dean asked.

"Hellhoundslair dot com," Kiki replied, causing both Dean and I to look at her with a strange look.

"And let me guess. Streaming live out of mom's basement," I said, causing Dean to chuckle as he shook his head. Sam and Kiki shared a look and merely rolled their eyes at our antics. I think they were annoyed. Since the whole Daeva thing back in Chicago, Dean and I seemed to be getting along on an ok level. We weren't Sam and Kiki and still argued constantly, but we had a new level of understanding. And a new level for annoying the shit out of both Sam and Kiki when we both together and not arguing.

"Most of those websites wouldn't know a ghost if it bit them in the ass," Dean said as Sam shook his head.

"Look. We let dad take off, which was a mistake, by the way. Now we don't know where the hell he is. So in the meantime, we got to find ourselves something to hunt. No harm checking this out," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Alright. So where do we find these kids?" Dean asked.

"Same place you always find kinds in a town like this," he replied, causing me to groan and lean back against my seat. I could tell that this hunt was going to be a pain in my ass. A few hours later, I leant against the Impala seriously wanting to bang my head against it after talking with some of the kids who had been up to this "haunted" house or whatever.

"Geez. You would think that these kids would have their stories straight."

"Let me guess. You got the same thing with them having all different stories about what this girl looked like and what had happened to her or whatever," I said as Dean, Sam, and Kiki approached the Impala.

"Exactly. But there was one thing they all had in common," Dean said.

"What? That they're all psychos with no hidden agenda?" I asked with sarcasm as I rolled my eyes. He gave me a look before shaking his head and muttering under his breath.

"No. Some kid named Craig took them there. That's how they found out about the place," Kiki replied as we got into the car and started heading toward our next destination.

"So let me get this straight. Some guy named Craig took them to this haunted house and they see this dead girl but she suddenly just disappears when the cops show up. Not to mention that they're stories don't exactly match, which is a typical teenager, and you want to go question this guy Craig just to see what's up. Is it me or does this escapade seem kind of not exactly up our alley? Especially since our two brains in the car found it on a website that is probably streaming from mom's basement?" I asked as I looked at Dean.

"You're quite the observer, princess," he replied with sarcasm, causing me to roll my eyes and hit him in the back of the head. His eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at me through the rearview mirror, but I merely stuck my tongue out at him.

"Are you sure you're an adult?" Sam asked as he turned his head to look at me.

"I'm pretty sure. Why?" I asked as I stared at him.

"Because I swear you act like a child 99 of the time," he replied, causing me to stare at him for about a minute before simply shrugging. I guess maybe he was right, but it was just the way I was. Especially since meeting Dean. I couldn't act like an adult when it came to him. The inner child just came out and I really didn't know how to contain it.

"Ok. So you and Artemis just kind of check out the store while Dean and I talk to this guy." I snapped out of my thoughts and smacked Sam in the back of the head, causing him to turn around and give me a glare.

"I just love how you three think you can just order me to do something while you get to have all the fun. Fuck you, Sam. I'm not doing anything you order me to do," I said as my eyes narrowed.

"Artemis…."

"I'm not a fucking weak person, Sam. Stop treating me like one. Just because I have issues doesn't mean I can't still do what I do. So stop treating me like I'm about to fucking break," I snapped as I got out of the car and slammed the door shut with probably more force than necessary.

"Hey, hey, hey. You mind not beating up on my baby?" I rolled my eyes as Dean got out of the car with Sam and Kiki following. I pretty much ignored him and walked into what I think was a place that sold music. Well records I think since I saw lots and lots of albums that had to be placed onto record players. Picking one up, I observed it and looked over my shoulder as Dean came up behind me. He gave me a look and I merely shrugged before putting it back down and looking around for any sign of this kid we were suppose to be talking to.

"Fellas and ladies. Can I help you with anything?" I looked up as a kid with some albums in his hands came toward us.

"Yeah. Are you Craig Thurston?" Sam asked.

"I am," he replied with a nod.

"Oh, well we're reporters with _The Dallas Morning News_. I'm Dean and this is Sam. And these are some new reporters, Artemis and Kiki, that we're training out in the field," Dean said as Kiki and I gave the kid a nod.

"No way. Yeah, I'm a…I'm a writer too. I write for my school's lit magazine," he said with a chuckle.

"Well, good for you, Morrissey," Dean said as he started to check out some of the albums on display, causing me to roll my eyes and shake my head. Typical Dean.

"Uh…We're doing an article on local haunting, and rumor has it you might know about one," Sam said, causing the kid to look up at us.

"You mean the Hell House?" he asked.

"That's the one," I replied with a nod.

"I didn't think there was anything to the story," he said as he shook his head.

"Well why don't you tell us the story?" Kiki asked, causing the kid to look at her before sighing and making his way back toward the front desk where I think people bought their items or whatever. It's been a long time since I was in a CD store or whatever the hell this was.

"Well, supposedly, back in the 30's, this farmer, Mordechai Murdock, he used to live in the house with his six daughters. It was during the Depression, his crops were failing, and he didn't have enough money to even feed his own children. So I guess that's when he went off the deep end," he replied.

"How?" I asked as I shoved the album out of Dean's hand that he was looking at and pulled him over toward the front desk so we could listen to the rest of the story. I felt his eyes glaring into my back, but I just waved him of with my hand and motioned for the kid to continue.

"Well, he figured it was best if his girls died quick rather than starve to death. So he attacked them. And they screamed, begged for him to stop, but he just strung them up, one after the other. And then, when it was all finished, he turned around and hung himself. Now they say that his spirit is trapped in the house forever and stringing up any other girl that goes inside," he replied.

"And where'd you hear all this?" Dean asked.

"My cousin Dana told me. I don't know where she heard it from. You got to realize that I didn't believe this for a second," he replied.

"But now it seems you do," I said as he gave me a look before shrugging.

"I don't know what the hell to think. You guys, I'll tell you exactly what I told the police, okay? That girl was real. And she was dead. This was not a prank. I swear to God that I don't want to go anywhere near that house ever again, okay?" he asked, causing me to shake my head and leave the store with Kiki following.

"Something doesn't seem right about what he was saying," I said as I shook my head.

"You're usually right with your instincts," she said as I nodded. It was true. Like I had talked with Sam a while back, my instincts were usually always right and what I was feeling right now was that there was more to what he had told us.

"Come on, girls." I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up as Dean and Sam exited the store and headed toward the Impala.

"Where are we going?" Kiki asked.

"To check out this house," Sam replied, causing me to shake my head just slightly as I got into the Impala. I had a feeling that this trip to this "haunted" house was not going to be very pleasant. It was going to be a complete disaster.

* * *

"This is totally fucking creepy. Remind me why we're doing this again?"

"Stop complaining, princess." I shot Dean a glare and was about to say something when Sam stepped in between us and shook his head.

"I have to agree with Artemis, Dean. I can't blame the kid," he said as we made our way up toward the house that stood isolated from the moving parts of the town.

"Oh yeah. So much for curb appeal," Dean said as Sam scoffed. I merely rolled my eyes and zipped up my jacket to keep the cool air from making me any more cold than I already was. Splitting off into groups, Sam and Kiki headed around one side of the house while I was stuck with Dean checking out the front and the other side of the house.

"So do you really think that there is a ghost story behind all this? That the house is haunted?" I asked as Dean pulled out his EMF device and turned it on.

"Don't know. Those kids couldn't seem to tell the same story. But as for that kid Craig's story, I don't know," he replied with a shrug.

"Dean, something doesn't seem right about his story," I said, causing him to look up at me with a questionable look.

"What do you mean?" he asked, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"I don't know. It's just….It's just that the story doesn't make any sense. Something seems to be missing from it. And the three kids he took into that house? Why would the girl be there and then not be there? It just doesn't make any sense," I replied.

"Yeah. Well a lot of these cases we work on don't ever make sense. Especially to you half the time," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Shut up, Dean. I'm being serious. My instincts are telling me that there is something seriously wrong with that story he was telling us. I think this might just be some kind joke or something," I said as I shook my head. He gave me a look before shaking his head and looking down at the EMF device in his hands. It seemed to be buzzing slightly but not enough to tell whether or not the house was indeed haunted.

"You got something?"

"Yeah, but the EMF's no good," Dean replied as Kiki and Sam approached us from around the side of the house.

"Why?" she asked.

"I think that thing's still got a little juice in it. It's screwing with all the readings," Dean replied as he motioned behind them with his head. Turning my head around slightly, I could see a telephone pole with a box standing near the house, which made me pretty much agree with Dean's observation. Any kind of magnetic force like that could screw with any readings the EMF was giving off, thus making us not so sure if something paranormal was happening or not.

"Come on. Let's go." I turned my head back around to see all three of them heading toward the house, causing me to sigh and shake my head. I couldn't believe they were actually going to check out this house. Did they seriously think that something was going here? Rolling my eyes, I quickly hurried after them and fell into step with Dean as he pushed the front door open and went inside. Looking around as we went, I could see symbols painted along the walls as if someone had been conjuring a spirit or was into the whole symbolic/witch era. Or something.

"Looks like old man Murdock was a bit of a tagger during his time," Dean said as I nodded in agreement.

"And after his time too. The reverse cross has been used by Satanists for centuries, but this sigil of sulfur didn't show up in San Francisco until the 60's," Sam said, causing me to look over at Kiki as she gave me a look. We both nodded and knew that someone was definitely in this house after old man Murdock had kicked the bucket and was either conjuring something or was definitely using this place to scare people. I am going with choice number 2 on this one.

"This is exactly why you never get laid." I turned around from Kiki and looked between the two brothers as they gave each other looks. Looking at Sam, knowing Dean had said the comment, I tried hard to keep a straight face as he looked over at me, but it was hard, in which I had to turn away and walk over to where Dean was walking in order not to be in the path of Sam's wrath if he wanted to yell or something.

"Hey. What about this one? Ever seen this one before?" I stopped next to Dean and looked up slightly to see what exactly he was looking at. It was some kind of symbol, but I didn't recognize the symbol at all. I mean, even though I was no Kiki, I knew just about every symbol of the supernatural and what they meant and were used for. This one I had absolutely no clue about.

"Nope," Kiki replied as she and Sam came toward us.

"I have. Somewhere," he said as he examined it.

"Somewhere? Dean, I know just about every fucking symbol of the supernatural and what they're meant and used for. This one isn't in the fucking books," I said as I gave him a look.

"It seems painted on. Seems fresh," Sam replied as he put a finger against the symbol, causing Dean to shake his head.

"I don't know, Sam. I mean, I hate to agree with authority figures of any kind, including princess over here for any matter, but the cops might be right about this one," he said, causing me to give Sam and Kiki a "I told you so" look. Kiki merely rolled her eyes and went back to studying the figures on the wall as I turned to say something to Dean. However, a clatter coming from another room caused me to close my mouth and reach for the gun in the waist of my jeans. Quickly following the boys, I drew my gun out and pulled the safety off as I leaned against the wall and peered out from behind Dean as he looked over at Sam and Kiki. Giving Dean a nod, Sam quickly threw open the door and as Kiki and I both pointed our guns, we were blinded by a flash of light and I would have fallen over if it hadn't been for Dean grabbing me by my waist.

"Oh cut! Just a couple of humans. What're you guys doing here?" I blinked my eyes back into vision and saw two guys standing before us with a huge flashlight in their hands and a camera.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Dean asked as I cocked my gun back into safety and placed it back into the waist of my jeans before looking at the two guys standing before us.

"Uh, heh, we belong here. We're professionals," one of them replied.

"Professional what?" Dean asked.

"Paranormal investigators. There you go. Take a look at that, boys. Oh and ladies," he said, causing me to raise an eyebrow and give them a look of disbelief as he handed Dean what I think was a business card.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me," I said, shaking my head as I peered around Dean's arm to get a look at the card before he passed it off to Sam.

"Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spangler. Hellhoundslair dot com. You guys run that website?" Sam asked as he looked up at the two guys. Dean and I looked at Sam and Kiki and then at each other. Seriously?

"Yup," Ed replied with a nod.

"Oh yeah, yeah. We're huge fans," Dean said as he started walking toward the opposite side of the room. I think it was the kitchen by the way it looked.

"And uh, we know who you guys, and ladies, are too," he said, causing me to cross my arms over my chest and look at him.

"Oh really?" I asked, causing him to look at me and nod.

"Really. Amateurs. Looking for ghosts and cheap thrills," he replied as his companion nodded.

"Yeah. So if you don't mind, we're trying to conduct a serious scientific investigation here," Harry said, causing me to roll my eyes in annoyance. I was wondering when we were going to be running into two idiots that thought they knew about the paranormal. Or supernatural. Whatever you wanted to call it. Guess today was that day.

"Yeah? What do you got so far?" Dean asked, causing Ed to scoff and shake his head.

"Harry, why don't you tell them about EMF?" he asked as he looked at his partner.

"EMF?" Kiki asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Electromagnetic field. Spectral entities can cause energy fluctuations that can be read with an EMF detector. Like this bad boy right here," Harry said as he brought out a box like thing and turned it on. I gave him a look before looking around their bodies to Dean and give him a weird expression. He made a motion of "crazy" with his hands, causing me to giggle just slightly before pulling an emotionless expression when the two knuckleheads looked at me.

"So have you guys ever really seen a ghost before, or what?" I asked as I looked back at them.

"Sure have. Once. We were investigating this old house and we saw a vase fall right off the table," Ed replied.

"By itself," Harry added.

"Well, we…we…we didn't actually see it, but we heard it. And something like that, it changes you. But we wouldn't to scare you into having nightmares, little girl," Ed said, causing my eyes to narrow into slits.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Ok. I think I get the picture. We should go and let them get back to work. Come on, princess," Dean said as he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me out of the room and toward the front door.

"I'm going to fucking kill them. Let me go, Dean," I said as I tried to get out of his grip and go back toward the kitchen where those two fucking idiots where still standing.

"Let it go, princess. They're not really worth it. Besides, you can help me against Sam. I think he might be planning something," he said, causing me to stop fighting against him and look at him. He had that mischievous look in his eyes and I knew he was up to something. Slowly but surely, my lips curled into a smirk as I knew that I couldn't go without helping. Watching was just no fun.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked, causing a smirk to form on his lips as he realized he had an ally. Leaning down, he began to whisper into my ear and I couldn't help but smirk.

* * *

"What happened?"

"Couple of cops say that poor girl hung herself in the house." I gave the man standing in front of us a look before looking over at Kiki. She sensed my look and merely shook her head before she looked over at the Murdock house as the medics were wheeling a black body bag out of the house. Kiki had heard the police sirens early this morning and saw that they were headed for old man Murdock's place, which is how we ended up being here as the cops and medics were doing their jobs. Early in the fucking morning too.

"Suicide?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. But she was a straight-A student with a full ride to UT too. It just doesn't make sense," the man replied before he shook his head and walked away from us.

"What do you think?" Sam asked, looking at us as we turned to look at him. I think he was mainly looking at me since I was the one that really didn't believe in what was going on in the first place.

"I think maybe we missed something," Dean replied, causing Kiki to nod. I think he was referring to the information Sam and Kiki had gotten the day prior on the Murdock placed. Turned out that the man's name was not Mordechai. It was Martin. And guess what? He only had two sons. Not six daughters. That and Dean and I nearly had our eardrums blasted when Sam decided to mess with the Impala. Dean had declared war and I was more than happy to help him.

"What are you suggesting?" Kiki asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Come back at night. Apparently this only happens at night," Dean replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"And what about the cops? They're for sure going to be watching this place after this little stunt," I said, causing him to give me a look before shaking his head. A few hours later, I found myself peering at the house through thickly covered bushes as part of Dean's plan. He had decided that we would wait for the perfect opportunity to get into the house once the cops weren't watching it.

"I guess the cops don't want any more kids screwing around in there," Sam said as I leaned against Dean just as a flash of light happened to fall our way. Keeping still, the light moved on as the cops continued to keep an eye on the grounds. I was about to say something when some indistinct voices could be heard whispering and some snapping twigs caught my attention. Turning my head, I swore under my breath, causing Dean to look in the direction I was.

"I don't believe it," he said as I rolled my eyes in complete annoyance. The two guys from the day before were coming back to the house once again to film for their stupid website. If I could, I would seriously strangle them and hang them up in the rafters of this place right about now. They were such a pain in my ass.

"I got an idea," Dean said as he stood up just slightly. I gave Sam and Kiki a look before looking back up at Dean.

"Who you going to call?" he asked, quite loudly if I might add, causing the police to freeze in what they were doing and turn around. I swear that I thought they were going to look in our direction, but they caught sight of the two knuckleheads and started after them. I let out a laugh and quickly got up to follow Dean as he made his way toward the house, Sam and Kiki following right behind. Quickly shutting the door behind us, Sam opened up the bag of weapons he had brought with us and handed Dean a shot gun before taking one for himself. I cocked the gun in my hand and checked to make sure that the other gun I had was tucked safely in the waist of my jeans for easy access if I needed it before moving across the room.

"Where the fuck have I seen that symbol? It's killing me," Dean said.

"Come on. We don't have much time before the police come back," Kiki said as she and I made our way toward the basement door, the boys quickly following behind. Making our way down into the basement, I gagged slightly at the smell and muttered in disgust at all the cobwebs hanging on the ceiling and the jars of god knows what on the shelves.

"Hey Sam. I dare you to take a swig of this." Both mine and Kiki's head shot up at the word "dare" and turned around to see Dean holding one of the jars from the shelves with a chuckle. Looking at one another, we gave each other the questionable look of whether they were going to start something while we were down here.

"What the fuck would I do that for?" Sam asked as he gave his brother a crazy look.

"I double dare you to," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes and give him a smack in the arm. He gave me a look and I merely rolled my eyes again before turning back around at the sound of creaking. Placing the jar back on the shelf, Dean made movement toward the sound with Sam not far behind. Walking toward a closet, Dean made a nod to Sam to open it as he held the shotgun toward it. Opening it, I jumped just slightly as I saw rats come tumbling out.

"I hate rats," Dean said as he gave a look of disgust.

"You'd rather it be a ghost?" Sam asked.

"Yes," we both replied with a nod. Sam and Kiki gave each other a look and merely shook their heads. I simply rolled my eyes and made to turn around, but I dropped my flashlight as I let out a scream.

"Artemis!" But I didn't hear anything as I dove out of the way of an axe coming my way. Sounds of the shot guns going off caused me to cover my head in order not to get shot before I felt Dean yank me up by my waist and set me up right.

"You alright?" he asked, causing me to nod as I grabbed the other gun from my jeans since I had dropped my other one jumping out of the way of that axe.

"What the hell kind of spirit is immune to rock salt?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. But I say it's about time we get out of here," Dean replied, shoving me toward the stairs. However, the axe coming down upon the shelf caused me to let out another scream as I tumbled into Dean.

"Sam!"

"Go! Get you and Kiki out of here!" Dean yelled as he once again shoved me toward the stairs. I grabbed onto Kiki and we raced up the stairs, Dean and Sam not far behind us. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the man with the axe not far behind us and whimpered in fear before letting out a gasp as Dean wrapped his arm around my waist and slammed through the door, causing us to go tumbling off the porch and to the ground.

"Get that camera out of our face," Dean said as we quickly got to our feet and hightailed it away from the house and the two knuckleheads who seemed to have outsmarted the cops. Or so they thought. Looking over my shoulder once again, I snickered when I saw the two run straight into the police that had chased them away from the house.

"Shouldn't mess with something you really don't know about," I thought as we quickly made our way back to the Impala and sped off toward the motel. About an hour later, I sat on one of the beds cross-legged as Dean sat on the bed drawing out the symbol we had seen, and that he seemed to know but couldn't place, while Kiki and Sam sat at the table working on their laptops.

"What the hell is this symbol? It's bugging the hell out of me. This whole damn job's bugging me. I thought that the legend says that Mordechai only goes after chicks."

"It does," Sam replied as I looked up from my sketch book and looked over at Dean, frustration written all over his face from trying to decipher the symbol.

"Alright. Well, that explains why it went after Artemis and after you, but why me?" he asked, causing me to snicker as I saw Kiki roll her eyes and Sam shake his head.

"Hilarious. Legend also says he hung himself. But did you see those slit wrists?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," I replied with a nod.

"What's up with that? And the axe too? I mean, ghosts are usually pretty strict, right? Following the same patterns over and over?" Sam asked, causing me to nod again.

"But this mook keeps changing," Dean replied.

"Exactly. I'm telling you, the way the story goes…." But he stopped speaking suddenly, causing Dean and I to look at one another before back over to the table.

"What?" I asked.

"Someone added a new posting to the Hellhound site. Listen to this. "They say Mordechai Murdock was really a Satanist who chopped up his victims with an ax before slitting his own wrists. Now he's imprisoned in the house for eternity." Where the hell is this going?" he asked just as Dean sat straight up on the bed.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I gave him a look.

"I don't know where it's going, Sam, but I think I might have just figured out where it all started," he replied as he got up from the bed.

"Where?" I asked as I watched him grab his jacket.

"Craig. Do me a favor and stay here to work with Kiki while Sammy and I go check this place out," he replied, causing me to nod.

"Sure thing," I said, getting up and throwing myself into Sam's seat as he got up and grabbed his jacket. Turning around to look at me, I gave him an innocent grin before pulling his laptop into my lap and beginning to type away. I knew he wanted to say something, but Dean grabbed him by the arm and slammed the door shut behind him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Artemis?" I looked up from the screen and gave Kiki a completely dumb look.

"Don't even think about giving me that look. I know you're helping Dean against Sam. Leave it alone and let them battle it out," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm bored, Kiki, and Dean has asked me to help. Not saying I'm going to be the one pulling the pranks, but I'm helping him with ideas. Shut up and leave me alone. You're not my mother," I said, causing her to roll her eyes and sigh.

"I might as well be. Since we met up with these two, you've been acting like such a child. When are you going to get serious again about this job? It seems like since you met Dean, you've let your childish antics get in the way of what we're suppose to be doing here," she said, causing me to stare at her for a minute before my eyes narrowed into slits as I set Sam's computer on the table and stood up.

"One, I can act anyway I please. So I act childish. I don't see you reprimanding Dean or Sam when they act all childish on hunts. Two, so I like to have fun. It's not Dean's fault that he knows how to have fun and you and Sam don't. You wouldn't know fun if it bit you in the ass, Kiki. And three, don't you ever tell me that you should be my mother. You don't have any fucking idea what the bloody hell you're talking about. I'm 21 years old and I can take care of myself and I can act any way I fucking please. Excuse me that it's not in your straight-laced book of rules to do this fucking job," I snapped as I walked away from the table.

"Artemis…."

"Shut up. I don't want to talk to you anymore. Good night," I said as I curled beneath the blankets and turned my back to her. I could hear her sigh but I didn't really care. I was fuming. Who the fuck did she think she was to tell me I was acting childish and she felt like my mother? So what if I was acting childish? I don't think I've felt so much like a child since I was actually a kid. I guess Dean was bringing something out of me I thought I had seriously lost with the death of my mom. Shaking my head with a sigh, I drew the blanket around me closer and let myself drift into a uneasy, light sleep.

* * *

"Come on, princess. Wake up." I groaned and let my eyes flicker open to see Dean standing over my side of the bed with a grin.

"What time is it?" I asked as I felt the side table for my glasses.

"Doesn't matter. I just need you up to watch," he replied as I placed my glasses on to see him holding a packet in his hand, which caused me to snicker slightly as I realized it was itching powder, before he walked toward the other side of the bed, watching for Kiki as he did so.

"She's probably out getting breakfast. Or getting coffee. Or something. Or her morning walk," I said, causing him to nod.

"Hey, I'm back," he said, calling out to Sam as he picked up Sam's freshly clean boxers sitting at the end of the other bed.

"Hey, where were you?" Sam asked as I heard the water shut off, causing me to realize that he was in the shower and that Dean only had so much time before Sam came out for his clothes.

"Oh, I went out," he replied.

"So I think I might have a theory about what's going on," Sam replied as I got out of bed and headed toward the dresser where my duffle bag was to pick something out to wear for the day.

"Oh yeah? What did your intelligent brain come up with?" I asked as I rummaged through my bag and began pulling clothes out.

"Ha-ha. Very funny, Artemis. Dean, what if Mordechai was a tulpa?" Sam asked.

"A tulpa?" Dean asked, standing up just as Sam came out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel around his waist. I whistled and gave him a wink as Dean laughed at my antics, causing Sam to give me a glare and shake his head before turning his attention to his brother.

"Yeah. A uh…A Tibetan thought-form," Sam replied, giving me a look as I changed into a pair of jeans and a corset top. Neither of them paid me any attention as they both were use to me changing in front of them. I really didn't care that they saw me in a bra and underwear. They were covering things they should see and that's all that really matter. Besides, two guys and two girls living in a motel room with only one bathroom was bound to make that happen.

"Yeah, no, I know what a tulpa is. Hey. Why don't you get dressed? I want to go grab something to eat. Artemis just woke up about five minutes ago and she's already to go," he said as he gestured to where I was already sitting on the bed putting on my converses before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door. Sam looked over at me and I merely shrugged before grabbing my brush and pulling my hair into a twisted bun. Satisfied, I gave Sam a grin and grabbed my shoulder bag before walking out of the hotel and almost right into Kiki.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey. You're missing it. Sam's naked in there," I said, causing her to give me a look before shaking her head.

"Thanks for the update," she said, causing me to give her a look.

"Are you ok?" I asked, causing her to sigh.

"Yeah. I was just thinking about what happened between us last night," she replied.

"Oh," I said.

"Yeah. Look. I'm really sorry about what I said last night. I mean, you know I mean well, but I was just worried that your focus wasn't where it was suppose to be like it was prior to meeting the guys. It seems like you would rather be a kid than do what we've been doing for the last three years," she said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"Kiki, I'm still just a kid. Deep down I'm still just a kid. I really didn't have a childhood growing up. Not after my mom died and then my dad died. I guess Dean just brings that out in me because he's…."

"So much like you. Gets antsy and annoyed when things get boring," she said.

"Exactly," I said with a nod.

"I know. It's just that with everything that has happened to you in the last couple of weeks, I can't just help but feel I'm responsible, even though I'm only a year older than you," she said, causing me to sigh.

"I know, I know. But I can handle myself just like you can handle yourself. Thanks for the concern," I said, causing her to chuckle as we hugged. We pulled apart just as Sam and Dean came out of the motel room.

"Ready to go, ladies?" Dean asked, causing me to give Sam a look before snickering and hurrying toward the Impala so he wouldn't get suspicious too quick. The ride to the place to get food was kind of quiet, with the exception of Sam moving every now and again. Catching Dean's look in the rearview mirror, I smirked and turned my gaze out the window. Sam was in for one hell of a day. About twenty minutes later, we got ourselves cups of coffee and started heading toward a table.

"Dude, what's your problem?" I looked up from my coffee as I watched Sam kind of move awkwardly toward the table Kiki and I had chosen to sit at.

"Nothing. I'm fine," he said.

"Yeah?" I asked, causing him to nod.

"Alright, so, uh….so keep going. What about these tulpas?" Dean asked as he sat down.

"Okay. Uh…so there was this incident in Tibet in 1915. A group of monks visualize a golem in their heads. They meditate on it so hard, they bring the thing to life. Out of thin air," he replied.

"So?" I asked, still not getting where this was going. Yes, yes, yes. I had changed my mind about the whole "haunted" house being a hoax and actually thought it was real since I actually was almost killed by this demon or whatever the hell it was that was haunting the house. Yeah. One time in forever that my instincts about the case were wrong. Sue me.

"That was 20 monks. Imagine what 10,000 web surfers could do. I mean, Craig starts the story about Mordechai, then it spreads and goes online. Now there are countless people all believing in the fucking bastard," he replied as he gave me a look.

"Okay, wait. You're trying to tell us that just because people believe in Mordechai, he's real?" Dean asked, causing Sam to nod before he moved slightly around. I snorted into my coffee at the sight, causing Kiki to look over at me before looking at her boyfriend's movements and then back to me again. Staring at me for a second before looking over at the smirk that was slightly on Dean's face, she stood up and set her coffee down.

"I'm going to the restroom. I'll be right back. Come on, Artemis," she said, grabbing onto my arm and pulling me after her. Walking toward the bathroom area, she turned around and looked at me.

"What the hell did you do to Sam?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I didn't do anything," I replied.

"Then why does he keep moving like he's got something in his god damn pants?" she asked, causing me to shrug.

"The hell if I know. You're his girlfriend. Not me," I replied, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Fine. Then what did Dean do?" she asked, causing me to shrug again.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?" I asked.

"Because I know Dean did something and it more than likely happened to have something to do with you," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"So just because Dean decides to put itching powder in his brother's boxers, I'm somehow affiliated with giving Dean the idea? Kiki, how fucking stupid can you really bloody be?" I asked as I looked at her, causing her eyes to widen with what I just said.

"Excuse me? He has what in his boxers?" she asked.

"Don't look at me. I'm not the one that did it," I replied, causing her eyes to narrow as I rolled mine.

"You are something else, Artemis. Ok. You know what? I really don't like this game when I'm playing against you, but you've left me no choice. I'm declaring war on you on behalf of Sam and I'm daring you to go over there and kiss Dean straight on the lips," she said, causing me to choke slightly on the coffee I was drinking and look at her like she was crazy.

"What?" I asked.

"You created the game when you were extremely bored, Artemis. You're helping Dean against his brother and I can't stand to watch my boyfriend go through it by himself. So I'm declaring your game of "I Dare You or Suffer the Consequences" to be in full effect as of right now. And I'm daring you to go over there and kiss Dean Winchester on the lips or something terrible is going to happen to Mr. Hoppy," she said, causing my eyes to narrow.

"You wouldn't dare," I said.

"Try me," she said with a smirk as I glared at her. I knew she wasn't joking when she smirked. Kiki never smirked unless there was a good reason for it. I was usually the one to end up smirking and for her to smirk, I knew she was dead serious. And I hated that she called my game into effect. I had made up the game when I was just really bored, kind of like Dean and I had been the day we had taken the picture of Sam with Mr. Hoppy and the spoon in his mouth, and we had never really played it again until now. Oh why the hell did I have to invent that game?

"Artemis," she said, causing me to place my coffee cup in her hands and give her a glare.

"You seriously know that you're going to suffer because of this, right?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Whatever you say," she said, causing me to give her another glare before walking back toward Dean and Sam. Oh I was so not going to live this down with Dean.

**Dean's POV**

"That's a Tibetan spirit sigil. On the wall of the house. Craig said they were painting symbols from a textbook. I bet they painted this not even knowing what it was. Now, that sigil has been used for centuries. Concentrating meditative thought like a magnifying glass. So people are on the Hellhound's website staring at the symbol, thinking about Mordechai….I mean, I don't know, but it might be enough to bring a tulpa to life," Sam said.

"It would explain why he keeps changing," I said as he nodded.

"Right. As the legend changes, people think different things, so Mordechai himself changes. Like a game of telephone. That would also explain why the rock salt didn't work," he said.

"Yeah because he's not a traditional spirit, per se. So why don't we just get this spirit-sigil thingy off the wall and off the website," I said.

"Well, it's not that simple. You see, once tulpas are created….."

"Sorry about this, Dean, but I surely in hell will explain later." I turned my head toward Artemis as she came toward the table and was about to say something when I felt her lips against mine. I was shocked to say the least, but the kiss was not something I was expecting. It was soft but with a small hint of dominance in it. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Artemis was not one to be taken too lightly when it came to sexuality.

"I'm going to the Impala. I'm going to get you, Kiki." And just as she came, she went, causing me to stare after the small, petite girl as she made her exit before turning around to look at Sam and Kiki as Kiki was trying to keep her face in an emotionless state while Sam was just staring at me in shock.

"Ok. Sam, what were you saying?" I asked as I tried to act completely normal by turning my attention back to my brother.

"Dude, Artemis just kissed you and you're going to act like it's nothing," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'll deal with her later. I've got a feeling it's got to do with you," I said, throwing my head in the direction of Kiki. She merely just smirked and settled back in her seat with her coffee. I knew it had something to do with her because she never smirked. I had never seen a smirk on her face like I was seeing now. Something was definitely up.

"So what were you saying, Sam?" I asked as I turned my attention back to my brother. He gave me a look, but I merely rolled my eyes.

"Like I was saying before Artemis interrupted with that kiss of hers, once tulpas are created, they take on a life of their own," he replied.

"Great. Alright. So if he really is a thought-form, how the hell are we supposed to kill an idea?" I asked.

"Well, it's not gonna be easy with these guys helping us. Check out their home page. Since they posted the video, the number of hits has quadrupled in the last day alone," he replied.

"Huh. I got an idea. We need to find a copy store. Come on," I said as I grabbed my coffee and got up. I watched as Sam gave me a look before nodding and starting to pack up his laptop.

"Man. I think I'm allergic to our soap or something," he said, causing me to look at him for a second before laughing.

"You did this?" he asked, causing me to only laugh harder as I made my way out of the place and toward the Impala, where I found Artemis sitting on the hood with her ear pieces to her iPod in her ears.

"Come on, princess. You're seriously going to put a dent in my baby," I said, causing her to give me a look before shrugging and getting off the hood. Pulling out the ear pieces out of her ear, she stuck her iPod into her bag and then looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"The kiss was a dare," she replied, causing me to give her a look.

"What?" I asked.

"Kiki thinks I had something to do with the itching powder in Sam's boxers and has officially declared war on me on behalf of her boyfriend. But we don't do what you two do by pulling pranks on one another. We play "I Dare You or Suffer the Consequences." She dared me to kiss you or there would be consequences for Mr. Hoppy," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"What kind of name is that for a game? Wait, wait, wait. So let me get this straight. Instead of tormenting each other with pranks, you torment each other by giving each other dares to do or they have to take a consequence?" I asked, causing her to nod.

"Yeah. So now I have to think of something for her to do since she made me kiss you," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Was it really that bad?" I asked, causing her to scoff.

"I really don't know why girls want to brag about you. You're so full of yourself. But I guess I was glad it was you and not someone else," she replied, causing me to snort with laughter and shake my head.

"You're such a weird girl. But if it's any constellation to you, you're a pretty damn good kisser. Soft but something tells me you've got some dominance in you and your sexuality shouldn't be taken lightly," I said, smirking when I saw a blush rise to her cheeks.

"Shut up," she said, causing me to smirk wider.

"So this game of yours. How does it work?" I asked.

"Well, for one, you can't play," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because you're a guy. Duh. Only Kiki and I can dare each other," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"So how exactly are you going to get her back? Obviously, according to your actions, she's gotten you good," I said, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Watch and learn. Hey Kiki. Come here," she said, motioning for her friend as I saw her and Sam exited the place and come toward us. Kiki was still wearing that smirk as she came to us, but it fade when she caught the sight of both of us smirking.

"Hey guys," she said as she motioned for Sam to get in the car. He gave her a look and then a look at us before shaking his head and getting in the car.

"So I heard about this little game that involves dares and consequences," I said, causing her to give Artemis a look before looking at me.

"You can't do anything because you're a guy," she said, causing Artemis to snort with laughter.

"But I can. And I dare you to do our next prank on Sam by yourself," Artemis said, causing her to scoff.

"I'm on Sam's side, Artemis. Can't do it," she said, shaking her head.

"Rules are rules, Kiki. Dare has to be taken no matter what the task or the consequence must be taken. You pull the next prank of ours on Sam or you have to run through this town starker," Artemis said, causing me to give her a confused look. Starker?

"Come again?" I asked as I looked at her.

"Naked, Dean. Starker in England means naked. If Kiki doesn't accept this dare, she has to run naked in the streets of this town," she replied, causing me to start smirking as I watched Kiki pale just slightly. I would have fun with this dare, but I don't think Sam would be too happy.

"Fine. What's the next prank?" Kiki asked, causing Artemis to turn to me with a grin.

"Can I do this one, Dean? Please? I know it's going to sound childish, but please. I've always wanted to try it," she said, causing me to give her a look. Who was this?

"Please?" she asked, causing me to chuckle and shake my head as the childish qualities of Artemis were finally coming completely out.

"Go ahead," I replied with a nod, causing her to grin.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"The copy store and then to those two knuckleheads' home," I replied.

"And then to the motel to clean up before we probably go out to eat?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"Artemis, what are you thinking?" Kiki asked.

"For once, I'm going to act like the kid I should have been in my kid years. This is what you're going to do. Motel isn't far from the stores, so we're, as in me and you, are going to walk back from the paint store while those two go off to those idiots' home. We're going to get bright green paint and just simply place it above the motel door so that when Sam walks in, he's going to look like the Jolly Green Giant Dean keeps calling him," she replied, causing me to give her a look as if she was crazy. Did she realize how childish that was?

"Artemis, that is so childish," Kiki said as I nodded.

"So what? I might as well just act like the kid everyone is telling me I am. Besides, paint dries pretty quick on skin," she said as she looked over at me. I studied her for a second before smirking. Childish but harmless nonetheless. And it was nice to see her with a smile on her face that wasn't forced.

"Ok. See you back at the motel," she said before grabbing onto Kiki's arm and dragging her toward town with a bounce in her step. I watched them go for a second before getting into the Impala with a laugh.

"Did somebody spike her coffee this morning?" Sam asked as he looked over at me.

"I wish. Let's get going," I said as I started up the car and headed toward the copy store with a smirk on my face. For once I surely in hell wasn't being blamed for what was going to happen to Sam. Artemis was definitely a character you couldn't just put your finger on. Shaking my head, I knew this was going to be funny as hell.

* * *

"I love the specks of green in your hair, Sammy. Makes you look so manly."

"Shut up, Artemis. I'm going to kill you."

"But I didn't do it. Your girlfriend did. I just put the idea in her head." I let out a laugh as I watched my brother and Artemis bantered back and forth as the four of us sat at a diner eating. Sam and Kiki were sitting across from Artemis and I and Sam was sporting a bit of green that he had missed in his hair when he had tried washing off all the paint that had fallen on him. I had to give Artemis credit. For such a childish prank, I say it worked pretty well. Especially since it wasn't Artemis nor myself pulling it.

"Why the hell would she want to do that?" he asked as he gave her a look.

"Because the game is called "I Dare You or Suffer the Consequences." She either did what I dared her to do or she had to run starker in the middle of town or whatever. She dared me to kiss Dean and I had to retaliate. But you do have to give me credit for the prank. It was totally childish, but it was a good laugh," she replied before shoving a piece of bread into her mouth.

"Artemis, I think you and I should just call a truce now on each other. It's going to escalate and it's going to get worse than Sam and Dean's pranking," Kiki said, causing Artemis to shrug but shake hands with her best friend. I merely shook my head and pulled on the string of this laughing mantel piece thing or whatever. Artemis chuckled as I pulled on it again, causing Sam to reach over and pull on it to stop it from laughing.

"If you pull that string one more time, I'm gonna kill you," he said, causing me to smirk and reach out to pull the string again. He gave me a glare and pulled on it to stop it.

"Come on, man. You need more laughter in your life. You're way too tense," I said, rolling my eyes as I watched Sam just take a drink of his beer and look at his laptop.

"Did they post it yet?" Kiki asked.

" "We've learned from reputable sources that Mordechai Murdock has a fatal fear of firearms." Alright. How long do we wait?" I asked as I read the bullshit story we had fed those two knuckleheads earlier.

"Long enough for the new story to spread and the legend to change. I figure by nightfall, iron rounds will work on the sucker," he replied.

"Nice," Artemis said as the four of us clinked our beers together before taking a drink. However, as I took a sip, Sam was trying hard to control his laughter and I brought my beer bottle down to look at him. Only it wouldn't let go of my hand. Artemis and Kiki's jaws dropped as I tried to shake the bottle off my hand, only to no avail.

"You didn't," I said as I looked over at my brother.

"Oh. I did," he said with a laugh as he brought a small tube of super glue from his pocket to show me before pulling on the string of the laughing wall piece. I gave him a glare and shook my head as they continued eating. I should of seen it coming. A couple of hours later, the four of us found ourselves back inside the house looking for any sign of Mordechai. If the legend changed, we would be able to kill it with the iron rounds we bullshitted in the piece of documentation we had given to the two idiots running the site.

"I barely have any sign left on my palm," I said as we quickly made our way through the house and toward the kitchen.

"I ain't touching that line with a 10-foot pole," Sam said, causing me to give him a look before glaring down at Artemis as she poked me in the stomach to keep moving. She rolled her eyes and made her way ahead of us with Kiki as they opened up the door leading toward the kitchen.

"Well, you think old Mordechai's home?" I asked, causing Sam to shrug.

"I don't know," he replied.

"Me neither." The four of us whirled around so fast that I swear I thought I was going to put a bullet into someone. Judging my Artemis's expressions, I was sure she was about to as well.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hey. Whoa." I scowled as I realized that it was the two idiots standing in the doorway from which we just came.

"What the fuck are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Artemis asked as she slightly lowered her gun to give them a dirty look.

"We're just trying to get a book-and-movie deal, okay, kid?" Ed asked, causing to raise her gun and fire a single shot, nearly missing the guy as he jumped out of the way. Sam shoved her back in front of him and away from the idiots, knowing full well like I did that she was not a happy camper with what was just said. I was about to say something when I heard metal scrapping from the door behind us, causing me to turn around and raise my gun at the door.

"Uh….guys, you wanna go open that uh….door for us?" Ed asked, causing Artemis to scoff.

"Why don't you? You're the experts here," she replied, sarcasm heavily dripping from her tongue. I chuckled and shook my head at her antics. I was so glad I wasn't on the receiving end of things with her wrath. I noticed Kiki was about to say something, but she shut up when old man Mordechai came crashing through the door, guns firing off as the four of us shot at him. I became slightly confused when he just vanished like before.

"Something's wrong," Artemis said as she threw her gun to the ground and pulled the other one out of the back of her jeans before quickly following me to the other room to look for any trace of old man Mordechai.

"You think?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes before we hurried back toward the kitchen at the sound of the knuckleheads screaming. Harry was on the ground and Ed was just standing there with his eyes open wide.

"Hey! Didn't you two post that bullshit story we gave you?" I asked as Sam and Kiki appeared in the doorway from which old man Mordechai had come from.

"Course we did," Ed replied.

"But then our server crashed," Harry added, causing Artemis to scoff and take a step toward them. Grabbing her around the waist, I moved her behind me so that she couldn't do the damage to them that she wanted. It was better they were kept alive in order for us not to be put into danger of the law. It wasn't a pleasant thing.

"So you're telling us that these guns don't work?" Kiki asked as she looked at them.

"Uh…yeah," Ed replied, causing me to scoff.

"Great. Sam, any ideas?" I asked as I looked at my brother. He could only shrug as the two idiots hurried out of the room and away from us. Artemis quickly cocked her gun into safety and made for following them when she stopped at the screaming of the them. Sticking my head out into the room, I watched as the two ran screaming down another hall, Mordechai following not far behind.

"Sam! Go stop him! Or try to! Dean, Kiki, I got an idea!" she yelled, hurrying toward the cabinets in the kitchen as Sam took off out of the room. I watched as my brother disappeared down the same way the guys had gone before turning toward Artemis, who was throwing things out of the cabinets.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I asked.

"Improvising," she replied as she tossed me something. Looking at the container, I saw that it was oil or gasoline or something. Catching her look, I knew exactly what she was wanting to do. Torch the place. Spreading the contents of the container on the floor, I quickly grabbed another one and made my way toward the hall where I heard my brother call for my name.

"Hey!" I yelled, causing both Sam and Mordechai to look over at me. I lit my lighter and hit a button on the can I was using, causing flames to erupt from the container and shoot at them. Sam nearly ducked in time and quickly made his way toward me, causing me to drop the can and hurry after my brother.

"Come on. If Mordechai can't leave the house and we can't kill him, we need to improvise," Artemis said as she and Kiki quickly hurried out of the kitchen toward us.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, causing me to hold up my lighter for him to see before tossing it to the living room floor. The entire room immediately started catching on fire and the four of us quickly made our way out of the house and toward the bushes before stopping to look back the place. I could see old man Mordechai standing in the door way of the house looking out as he became ash.

"That's your solution? Burn the whole god damn thing to the ground?" he asked as he looked at me.

"No one will go in there anymore. I mean, look. Mordechai can't haunt a house if there is no house to haunt. It's fast and dirty, but it works," I replied as Artemis nodded in agreement.

"Well, what if the legend changes again and Mordechai is allowed to leave the house?" he asked, causing me to stop and think for a second before answering.

"Well, then we'll just have to come back. I'm sure Artemis can come up with another idea on how to get rid of him," I replied, causing Sam to look at both of us before scoffing and looking back at the house. It was silent for about a minute before he spoke again.

"It kind of makes you wonder. Of all the things we hunted, how many existed just because people believed in them?" he asked, causing me to stare at him a second before looking over to Artemis and Kiki as they had the same expressions written on their faces. He had a point. Just how many did exist with people just believing in them? Would they ever cease to exist?

* * *

"No! You're suppose to do it like this."

"What's the difference?"

"It works better if you do it this way." I raised an eyebrow as Artemis entertained herself doing tricks with a piece of string that was tied together at the ends and was about to say something when I heard voices. Looking up, I smirked as the two idiots came toward us.

"Gentlemen. And ladies," Ed said.

"Hey guys," Sam said as they started walking by us toward their car with groceries in their hands.

"Should we tell them?" Harry asked, causing the four of us to give each other looks before walking behind them.

"Might as well. They're gonna read about it in the trades," Ed replied.

"So this morning we got this phone call from a very important Hollywood producer," Harry said.

"Wrong number?" Artemis asked, causing me to smirk.

"No, smart-ass. He read all about the Hell House on our website and wants to option the motion-picture rights. Maybe even have us write it," Ed replied, causing her to roll her eyes.

"And create the RPG," Harry added, causing Artemis and I to exchange confused looks. RPG?

"Role-playing game," he said.

"Uh, right," I said with a nod as if I understood what he was getting at.

"It's a little lingo for you. Uh…anyways, excuse us. We're off to La-La land," Ed said as they made to get in the car.

"Well, congratulations, guys. That sounds really great," Sam said as I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. That's awesome. Best of luck to you," I said.

"Oh, yeah, luck. It's got nothing to do with it. It's about talent. You know, sheer, unabashed talent. Later," he said as they got into their car and started pulling away.

"Somebody please tell me that this is all a joke. There is no way those two bastards would even get a chance at Hollywood," Artemis said, shaking her head as we made our way toward the Impala.

"I have a confession to make," Sam said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I, uh…I was the one who called them and told them I was a producer," he replied, causing Artemis and Kiki to look at him before looking at each other with shocked expressions. I merely looked at the trailer that was leaving the park and then at my brother before laughing.

"Well, I'm the one who put the dead fish in their back seat," I said, causing Sam to look at me before laughing. The girls merely shook their heads as they opened the back doors to the Impala.

"Truce?" Sam asked as I looked over at him.

"Yeah, truce. At least for the next hundred miles," I replied with a nod as he merely shook his head and got into the front of the Impala. Artemis rolled her eyes and merely shook her as she made to get into the car.

"Hold up, princess," I said, causing her to stop and look at me in confusion. I gave her a smirk before pulling her toward me and kissing her. It was a soft kiss. Nothing like the rough kisses I did when I was hooking up with other girls I had just met. This was different. Way different.

"Wow." I looked at her as I pulled back, her eyes wide like a doll's.

"Now we're even," I said, causing her to look at me before punching me in the chest. I laughed as she swore.

"I'm going to kill you Dean," she said as I laughed harder.

"All in time, princess," I said before I got into the car. She followed a second later and threw herself at Sam as he laughed. I gave them a look and shook my head as I headed out of the trailer park. Kiki laughed and pulled Artemis away from Sam, causing me to laugh as I looked at her pouting through the rearview mirror. She stuck her tongue out at me and I merely rolled my eyes as I blasted the Blue Oyster's through the stereo. Nothing was ever going to be normal about hunting with Artemis around. That was for damn sure.


	10. Chapter 9: Something Wicked

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Something Wicked**

"It just doesn't make any sense, Dean."

"Hey! Stop stealing my lines, people!"

"You should seriously cash that line in, princess. It would probably beat Paris Hilton's line or something."

"Dean, seriously shut the fuck up," I said as I looked up from my sketch book to give him a glare. He gazed at me through the rearview mirror and smirked. I merely stuck my tongue out at him and rolled my eyes before turning my attention back to my latest sketch. Ironically it was a sketch of Dean, which was really unusual for me to be drawing. I usually drew about the nature or something that was sitting quite still in front of me, but I really didn't know why I was drawing a picture of Dean. I guess I thought he looked really peaceful sleeping this morning and I quickly sketched the outline of the picture quickly before sketching more in-depth now. Odd.

"Dude, I ran LexisNexis, local police reports, newspapers. I couldn't find a single red flag. Are you sure you got the coordinates right?"

"Yeah. I double-checked. It's Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Dad wouldn't have sent us coordinates if it wasn't important, Sammy," Dean replied, causing me to look up from my sketch and look over to Kiki, who was busy on her laptop. Knowing she wasn't going to be any help, I leant forward and gave Sam a look.

"What's the matter, Art?" he asked as he gazed back at me.

"We're going to Fitchburg, Wisconsin?" I asked, causing him to nod.

"Yeah. Why?" he asked, causing me to shake my head before leaning back against my seat again.

"Nothing," I said as my eyes turned back to my sketch. I knew both brothers had given each other looks and were now looking back at me, but I completely ignored them as I continued to draw. Or well at least tried. Thoughts of this town were flashing through my mind at a quick pace and I knew that something was going to be so much trouble that it would definitely land me in hot water one way or another.

"Don't worry, Sam. I'm sure there's something in Fitchburg worth killing," Kiki said, jumping into the conversation, causing me to give her a grateful look.

"Yeah? What makes you so sure about that?" Sam asked as he gave her a look.

"Because I'm usually always right," she replied, causing me to snort with laughter and shake my head.

"You know something? You and Artemis are more alike than you give yourself credit for. Next thing you'll be telling us that you belong to some kind of royal family and have a lot of money," Dean said as he shook his head. Kiki and I spared a glance at one another since we knew what the other was thinking. Dean had pretty much hit the nail on the head with that comment. Well, most of it anyways. I wasn't royalty, but I had money. More money than I actually knew what to do with.

"You with us, princess?" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up as Dean looked at me through the rearview mirror.

"Uh…yeah. Sure. What did you want?" I asked as I put my sketch book away and looked out the window. That's when I noticed that we were in a town, probably Fitchburg by the looks of it, and the car was parked. Odd how time flies when you're not paying attention.

"I'm going in to get some coffee. Want some?" he asked, causing me to nod as we got out of the car.

"Yeah. I'll go with you though," I said, causing him to nod before the two of us headed across the street while we left Sam and Kiki to do whatever it was the two of them did when Dean and I weren't around.

"Yeah. Can I get four cups of coffee please? One black, two with just milk, and one with both milk and sugar," Dean said as he placed some money down on the counter to pay for the coffee.

"It'll be about 10 minutes or so before it's ready. We're just brewing up a fresh pot of coffee," the woman said as she handed Dean the change.

"No problem. You got a phone book somewhere in here?" I asked.

"Sure do. It's right over there at the payphone next to the restroom," she replied, pointing across the place where I indeed spotted a payphone. Giving her a nod, I walked over to the payphone and began flipping through the phone book I found.

"Know somebody that lives here?" Dean asked as he looked over my shoulder.

"As a matter of fact I do," I replied with a nod before searching my pockets for a piece of paper and a pen. Finding what I needed, I scrolled my finger down all the M's until I came upon McAdams, James. Shaking my head as I realized that the number was still the same, I quickly wrote it down and stuffed the paper into my pocket, ignoring the look Dean was giving me, before heading back toward the counter where our cups of coffee were waiting for us. Speaking quickly with the waitress, Dean gave her a nod before the two of us headed back over across the street where Sam and Kiki were watching the children playing.

"Well, the waitress thinks that the local Freemasons are up to something sneaky, but, uh, other than that, nobody's heard about anything weird going on. You going to tell us who you know in Fitchburg, princess?" Dean asked, causing me to give him a glare as I pulled Kiki's laptop out of the car and began looking up what I needed.

"You know somebody in Fitchburg? Is that why you were kind of quiet earlier?" Sam asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"So I know somebody in Fitchburg. Sue me. And it's really none of your business who I know or don't know," I replied as I let my eyes go back to what I was doing. Sensing I wanted to keep the subject closed, Sam began to speak to Dean.

"Dean, you got the time?" he asked, causing Dean to look at his watch.

"Ten after 4. Why?" Dean asked.

"What's wrong with this picture?" Kiki asked, causing me to look up and look in the direction of a playground that Kiki and Sam were looking. It seemed kind of empty and it seemed a bit strange for no kids to be playing around in it.

"School's out, isn't it?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod.

"So where is everybody? This place should be crawling with kids right now," Sam said, causing Dean to give me a look and me to shrug. Sighing, Dean took a drink of his coffee before walking over toward the young woman sitting on a bench while her daughter played by herself on some kind of jungle gym contraption. Watching him for about a second more, I shook my head and went back to working on the laptop.

"What are you looking up?" Kiki asked as she and Sam turned their attention to me.

"Just some newspaper articles from around the states of Wisconsin and California," I replied.

"Articles of what?" Sam asked, causing me to roll my eyes as I looked up at him.

"Articles of things. Look, I've got something to do, so I'll be back a little later. Let Dean know that so that he doesn't chew me out later when I get back. Kiki, call my cell and leave me a message to let me know what motel we're staying at. My phone is going to be on silent, so I won't be picking up whenever you call," I said as I shut the laptop and grabbed my bag before shutting the door.

"Where are you going?" Kiki asked.

"Somewhere. Look, I'll be back later. If I'm not back to the motel by 9 o'clock tonight, just call my cell. I'll probably pick up by then. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," I replied before I hurried across the street and made my toward my destination, which I knew was about five miles from where we were. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Dean coming back and by the look of his face as he talked to Sam and Kiki, he wasn't too thrilled about me going off and leaving them with the job. Shaking my head, I quickly made my way down an alley way to another street to keep Dean from dragging me back with them.

"What is wrong with you?" I thought as I kept thinking about Dean. Something was going on with me when it involved Dean, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. For some reason, I felt at ease and comfortable when it came to being around Dean. Yes we argued and we fought over the stupidest things. Yes we drove Kiki and Sam up the wall when we actually got along. But something more was there and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was like Dean was this mystery to me and I wasn't anywhere near to solving it.

"He's going to be the death of me," I muttered as I came upon a nice little house in a quiet neighborhood and unlatched the gate in front of me before locking it again and heading toward the front porch. Looking slightly to my left, I made out a swing hanging off the tree in the front yard and I shook my head as memories started flashing back. I couldn't have this now. Sighing, I walked up the steps to the porch and knocked on the door. I was hoping someone was home because if no one was home, I was screwed.

"Artemis?" I whirled around at the opening of the front door and looked at the man standing there and staring at me in surprise.

"Hey Uncle James. We need to talk," I said as he gave me a look before recognition hit his face. Letting me in, I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before following him. I hope he had what I was searching for.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Well, you were right. It wasn't easy to find, but you were right. A shtriga is a kind of witch. They're Albanian, but legends about them date back to ancient Rome. They feed off of spiritus vitae."

"Spirit what?" I asked as I looked up from what I was doing to look at my brother.

"Vitae. It's Latin. It translates to "breath of life." Kind of like your life force or essence," Kiki replied as she looked up from her laptop.

"Didn't the doctor say the kids' bodies were wearing out?" I asked.

"It's a thought. You know, she takes your vitality, maybe your immunity goes to hell. Pneumonia takes hold. Anyway, shtrigas can feed off anyone. But they prefer…."

"Children," I said, finishing off Sam's sentence.

"Yeah. Probably because they have stronger life force. And get this. "Shtrigas are invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man." What the hell?" he asked as he looked up at me.

"No. That's not right. She's vulnerable when she feeds," I said as I put down what I was doing and making my way over toward my bed where my duffle bag was sitting.

"What?" Kiki asked as she gave me a look.

"If you catch her when she's eating, you can blast her with consecrated wrought iron. Uh, buckshots or rounds, I think," I replied as I went back to doing what I was doing.

"How do you know that?" Sam asked.

"Dad told me. I remember," I replied."Oh. So, uh, anything else Dad might of mentioned?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No. That's it. And where the hell is Artemis?" I asked, causing both of them to shrug. I growled and pulled out my cell phone to dial her number, but just before I could do anything, the motel door opened and in walked Artemis. She didn't pay us any mind until she looked up from kicking her shoes off as we looked at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Where the fuck were you?" I asked.

"Out. I told Sam and Kiki to tell you that. I knew you would go nuts if they didn't tell you that," she replied as she tossed her bag to the floor and started searching through her duffle bag that I had tossed onto the bed earlier when we arrived at the motel.

"Out where, Artemis?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes as she looked up at me.

"Out, Dean. Shouldn't matter where I was because it's none of your business. I was taking care of a few things," she replied as she headed toward the bathroom. But I grabbed onto her arm and spun her around to look at me.

"So you were out while the rest of us were doing a job? Why the hell does that not make me convinced?" I asked, causing her to maneuver out of my grip and give me a dirty look.

"I don't really care if it makes you convinced or not, Dean. The fact that you three were going about questioning people about the god damn shtriga is really none of my business. I had other personal matters to attend to while you three were taking care of that," she replied.

"How did you know we're after a shtriga?" Sam asked, causing her to give him a look. I was curious too. I didn't even know what the hell we were after until I saw the hand print on the windowsill outside the home of the latest victims. How she could of know was beyond me.

"Do you really take me as stupid, Sam? What the hell did you think I was looking up while Dean went to talk to the woman at the park earlier? Do you really think I'm that stupid not to see why there are no children playing out at a park?" she asked.

"How do you know about the shtriga?" I asked, causing her to look at me.

"How can I not know about it? It feeds off of anyone, but it likes children more because they have some kind of innocence or stronger essence of life. It works it's way through families. Through the children and takes on some kind of human life form. It just depends on the type of town it's in and what form it will take upon. Normally it's usually an old woman or something, but it can be anyone. What?" she asked as she noticed the look I was giving off on my face.

"I marked down all the addresses of the victims. Now, these are the houses that have been hit so far. And dead center…."

"The hospital," she said as she gazed at the map I had pulled out of the city and set on the table.

"Exactly. When Sam, Kiki, and I were there earlier to talk to the parents about their kids, I saw a patient. An old woman," I said, causing her to lift an eyebrow and look over at Sam.

"An old person huh?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied with a nod.

"In the hospital? Whoo. Better call the Coast Guard," he said, causing me to give him a dirty look while Artemis and Kiki giggled. Shaking my head, I turned back to my brother.

"Listen, smart-ass, she had an inverted cross hanging on her wall," I said, causing all three to stop laughing and look at me in shock.

"Say what?" Kiki asked.

"Saw an inverted cross hanging on her wall," I replied.

"That's creepy," she said, causing Artemis to head toward the bathroom with clothes in hand.

"Well maybe you should check it out. That thing is probably going to strike again tonight and if that old woman Dean saw is in fact the shtriga, you're going to want to waste her with consecrated wrought iron or something along those lines. But you've got to catch her when she's feeding. Only way to do it," Artemis said as she turned the shower on and then leaned against the doorway of the bathroom.

"How do you know so much about the shtriga? We just said what you said a few minutes before you even walked through the door? And what the hell are you doing? You're going with us," Sam said, causing her to roll her eyes again and shake her head.

"I'm not setting one foot inside that hospital. You know I hate hospitals. As for knowing about the shtriga, I'm not entirely stupid when it comes to knowing a bit about demons and shit that we hunt. Call it something along the lines of mythology. At least it's something useful this time," she said.

"So once again you're leaving us to do the fucking job while you continue to gallivant off on your own? What the fuck is the matter with you?" I asked, causing her eyes to narrow as she moved toward me until she right in front of me.

"What the fuck is the matter with me? What the fuck is wrong with you, Dean? Since when the fuck do you need to know where I've been or what I've been doing? Afraid some ghost or something is going to get me? Do you have a soft side for me, Dean?" she asked, her eyes dangerous as they flashed into ice. That was the one thing I hated about her eyes. When she got severely pissed off, they became so icy that the room seemed to just freeze over or something. I hated it. Shaking my head, I gave her a glare as I began to talk.

"I could care less about what you do, princess, but it seems a bit strange to me about what you're doing by sneaking off and leaving the rest of us to do the work. That doesn't seem like you. Usually you're pitching a fit if we leave you out of something. Now you just want go off and do whatever while this thing is killing off children? Who are you?" I asked, causing her to look at me for a split second before I found myself pinned against the wall by a very pissed off Artemis.

"What the bloody fuck do you even care for, Dean? Huh? You should be happy that I'm not bitching and complaining about everything that we're doing. So I don't have my head completely spun around what you guys are looking for. So I seem to know a little bit about the shtriga. Who cares? Not like you really do. I'm not going and I could care less if you're pissed off about it. I'm not reliving my past. You can forget about it," she said before she let me go and walked toward the bathroom.

"Artemis…"

"I'm done, Sam. I don't want to relive a painful moment in my life, so I'll be here when you guys get back. Maybe I'll have something more for you if the old woman isn't the shtriga. Better save then sorry," she said before she shut the door, leaving the three of us to look at one another in confusion. What was going on with her?

"Dean…"

"Let's go. She'll be fine," I said as I gathered up some things before grabbing the keys and heading outside to the Impala. Throwing my things into the trunk, Sam, Kiki, and I got into the car and started toward the hospital. Both knew I was on edge because of what had just happened, but I knew Sam would not be able to keep his mouth shut.

"She knows something, Dean. Something happened. She has seen the shtriga before." Right I was.

"Sam…."

"Dean, you know as well as I do that this is not Artemis. That this is not the Artemis we are use to seeing. Yes we have seen many different sides of Artemis, but have you ever seen the side of Artemis that doesn't want to be part of a hunt? Seriously, Dean. Something is wrong with her and it has to do with the shtriga. You know she has seen it," he said as I sighed.

"Does someone want to explain to me what is going on? What makes you so sure that Artemis has seen the shtriga before? Artemis is really smart in this kind of area. She knows just about every type of demon off the top of her head. I mean, it takes her a while to figure out what it is we're hunting, but once she knows, she can tell you anything you want to know about just from memory. I swear to god that girl has a memory that could even beat you and I, Sam. But that doesn't necessarily mean she has seen the shtriga," Kiki said, causing me to shake my head.

"Something is wrong with her though, Kiki. And what do you mean she has a memory that beats us?" he asked as he gave her a look.

"She's some kind of genius, Sam. The kid has a memory that I can't even describe," I replied as he looked at me.

"What are you talking about? I always see her looking things up and whatnot when we're hunting," he said, causing Kiki to shake her head.

"She's looking things up for whatever we're doing, but not what kind of demon or whatever like we do. All of that is stored up in her brain. She reads a book and she can put the entire book to memory for some later use. You know how she's always sketching?" she asked, causing him to nod.

"Entirely from memory," I said as I gave my brother a look.

"What?" he asked as he gave us both a shocked look.

"It's some kind of thing she developed when she was younger. Or so she told me. Everything she draws is from memory. She can remember something from last week and draw it. Just today this morning on our way into Fitchburg I saw her drawing a picture of Dean when he….."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. Drawing a picture of me?" I asked as I gave her a look through the rearview mirror.

"Yeah. That's what I just said. It's a really good picture of you too. Maybe when she doesn't hate you, she'll show it to you. But anyways, like I was saying before. Artemis has a memory of an elephant. She never forgets what you tell her and she never forgets what she sees," she replied, causing me to frown slightly as I looked over at Sam. He had the same expression I did as we both knew that Artemis had to of seen or heard of the shtriga at some point in her life, probably somewhere along her childhood, and it had to of left a permanent mark somewhere in her heart. Shaking my head, I pulled into the hospital parking lot and got out, Sam and Kiki following as we pocketed our guns and headed inside.

"Good night doctor." I held out an arm and leant against a wall as I heard the nurse and doctor from earlier around the corner.

"See you tomorrow, Betty," he said as he began to head down the hall.

"Try to get some sleep," she said before she headed in the opposite direction as the doctor turned the corner at the end of the hall.

"I really didn't like the look he had on his face," Kiki said, shaking her head as we looked down both halls before quickly making our way down a hall toward the room I had seen the old woman in earlier. Casting her a look, I shook my head and pulled out my gun before nodding to Sam to open the door to the old woman's room. Quietly making my way in, I made my way over toward the old woman as she sat, or rather slept, in the same wheel chair I had seen her sitting in when she had turned and stared at me earlier. Looking back at Sam, he nodded and I leant in toward the woman. However, I ended up backing toward the wall as she suddenly came to life as if she sensed our presence or something.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked as I looked over at Sam and Kiki in shock. Sam quickly scrambled for the light and gave me a look when it was on.

"Who's there? You're trying to steal my stuff? They're always stealing around here," she said as she seemed to look around for what the source was. I gave my brother a look as he quickly answered.

"No, uh, ma'am. We're maintenance. We're sorry. We thought you were sleeping," he said as I ran a hand over my face.

"Ah, nonsense. I was sleeping with my peepers open. And fix that crucifix, would ya? I've asked four damn times already," she said as she started laughing before seemingly addressing me. I turned toward the crucifix on the wall and stared at it for a second before flipping it down and looking over at my brother and Kiki. They were giving me looks and I ran a hand over my face. I was so glad Artemis wasn't here for this.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"Are you absolutely sure you haven't found them yet?"

"Artemis, I have looked every place for the books and have yet to find them. You were always good at hiding things when you were here. It probably is no different now that you're older."

"That's really not fair, Uncle James. Just because you were always bad at hiding things doesn't mean you can make fun of me for being able to hide things. If anything, it's a bad thing since sometimes I can never remember where I've put the simplest things if I've hidden them quite good. And you know how my memory is," I said as I laced up my pair of white ankle boots. I had decided to go with a simple dark blue spaghetti strapped dress that came up just slightly above my knees and the boots. I had tied my hair back in some kind of elaborate bun and placed dark blue dangling stars into my ears that I had bought a while back when Dean and I had to do some kind of shopping. I had saw them and just had to buy them, which I don't think Dean quite understood since he is a guy and guys just don't do shopping. Unless they're gay, which I doubt Dean is because he could be such a perverted jerk when it came to me and what I wore. Well, it didn't really matter what I wore because he always had to make some kind of comment. Or was it a compliment? I really wasn't sure.

"Like an elephant. Just like your father. Look. I'll keep looking for those books, but I can only do so much before Kelly has my head for the mess I'm leaving in each room I've been in. You're just going to have to come over again and look yourself."

"I have to wait until the guys and Kiki get back before I can do anything. They're out at the hospital checking up on some old woman they believe might be the shtriga and I really don't need Dean up my ass for being gone all day again. I'll be at the house in maybe an hour or something. I've got to go," I said before I hung up and placed the phone in my bag before draping it over my shoulder and heading out of the motel room. Slipping the keys into my bag, I turned to head toward the dining area or whatever you called, but stopped when I saw a kid sitting on a bench outside the main office. He looked pretty down and letting the curiosity get the better of me, I walked toward him.

"Hey. You ok?" I asked as I sat down on the bench, causing him to look at me.

"My little brother is sick. He's in the hospital," he replied.

"Oh whoa. I am so sorry. What is wrong?" I asked.

"Pneumonia. I think I forgot to latch the window last night," he replied, causing me to give him a look before I felt my eyes shut and a memory flash into my mind.

_Flashback_

"_But daddy…."_

"_No buts, Artemis. Uncle James and Aunt Kelly will be at the gate when you get off the plane."_

"_But daddy…."_

"_Artemis, I can't have you catching whatever it is that is going around. Four or five kids besides your baby brother have gotten pneumonia and are comatose. I just want to keep you from getting sick. It will only be for a few days and then you can come home. I promise. Hopefully Bryce will be ok by then and all better so you can play with him again. But you have to be a good girl and do what I say, ok? It is only for a few days." The young girl of about eight stared at her father as she tried hard not to cry. But it was hard since she knew her baby brother was in the hospital fighting for his life while she was being shipped across the states to stay with some family friends until he got better._

"_No tears, princess. You have to be strong. Strong for Bryce. The doctors are doing everything they can for him, but you need to be strong for him. He needs his big sister's prayers and strength. So be strong for him. Ok?" The girl nodded and hugged her father before grasping the flight attendant's hand and looking back at her father as she was led upon the plane for the long flight to Wisconsin. _

_End of Flashback_

"Are you ok?" My eyes snapped open as the kid looked at me in slight concern.

"Yeah. I was just remembering when I was about your age and my brother got sick. How old are you?" I asked.

"10. And my brother, Asher, is 6," he replied.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Michael," he replied.

"Well, Michael, my name is Artemis and I can tell you that this is not your fault," I said as he gave me a look.

"It's my job to look after him," he said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"Michael, you're probably done a great job looking after him. He needs that growing up. He needs his big brother, but I can tell you that it is not your fault. I felt the same way you do when my brother got sick. I was younger than you when my brother got pneumonia and was in the hospital," I said.

"Was he ok?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"He was really, really sick. He had just gotten over the flu a few days prior and then he caught pneumonia. His immune system just wasn't working properly to fight the infect and he died about three days after being admitted to the hospital. I wasn't there because my dad had sent me to stay with some family friends so that I didn't catch what some of the other kids and Bryce had come down with. But I know what it feels like to know that you're responsible for a younger sibling because I felt the exact same way about my baby brother. He was only three when he died, but I won't ever forget the feeling of thinking that I had let him down," I replied, causing him to look at me.

"I don't want Asher to die," he said.

"I don't think Asher will die. I think he has a great chance to recover. But you just have to believe that he will or else he won't get better. It always helps the younger sibling to know that his big brother is there for him and thinking about him," I said, causing him to nod.

"Finally roll out of bed, princess?" I looked up as Dean, Sam, and Kiki made their way over to us.

"Not exactly. I was on my way to get breakfast…."

"In that outfit? Trying to pick up some guys?" Dean asked with a smirk, causing me to roll my eyes and shake my head.

"No. I was on my way to get some breakfast when I saw Michael sitting out here. His brother is sick," I replied, causing Dean to kind of frown.

"The little guy?" he asked, causing Michael to nod his head.

"Pneumonia," Michael said, causing Dean to frown even more. He was about to say something when I heard a door open and a woman, which I assumed was Michael's mom since she addressed him, came outside with a pillow and a teddy bear and stuff, which I assumed were for Asher at the hospital.

"Michael, I want you to turn on the "no vacancy" sign while I'm gone. Denise is covering room service, so don't bother with the rooms," she said as she put the stuff into her vehicle.

"I'm going with you," he said, causing her to shake her head.

"Not now, Michael," she said.

"But I have to see Asher," he said.

"Hey Michael? Hey. I know how you feel, okay? I'm a big brother too. But you gotta go easy on your mom right now, okay?" Dean asked as he put his foot in. Michael gave him a look before looking over at me, causing me to nod.

"Listen to Dean, Michael. I know you're worried about Asher, but you got to be strong and let your mom handle it for a little while. Don't forget that I'm a big sister too and I know how it feels to be denied from your younger sibling while they're sick. Asher is going to be ok," I said, ignoring the looks I was getting from my other companions as I knelt down next to Michael.

"Is he?" he asked.

"Well he's not if you don't believe it," I said, causing him to sigh before nodding.

"Damn it!" I looked up from Michael as Sam knelt down to pick up the woman's purse that she had dropped in a hurry to get her son's stuff into her vehicle.

"Listen, you're in no condition to drive. Let me give you a lift to the hospital," Dean said, causing her to shake her head.

"No. I couldn't possibly….."

"No, it's no trouble at all. I insist," he said, causing her to look at him before sighing and handing over her keys. She gave Michael a hug and a kiss before getting into her vehicle as Dean made his way around to the driver's side.

"When I get back, I've got a bone to pick with you, Artemis," he said as he gave me a look. I merely rolled my eyes and shook my head as he brought the vehicle to life and pulled out of the parking lot toward the hospital. I sighed and picked up my bag as Sam turned to me.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Somewhere. And you're going with me. Kiki, we'll drop you off at the library so that you can do some research," I said as I turned to Kiki. She gave me a look before nodding, knowing that she shouldn't be arguing with me at all. Sam, however, just gave me a look and shook his head as he started heading toward the Impala. Sighing, I ran a hand over my face and muttered under my breath before following him. The ride was silent for the most part to the library, which I think Kiki was glad to get away from once she had gotten out, but I merely sighed as I crawled into the front seat and looked over at Sam.

"Where to?" he asked.

"Sam…."

"Where to, Artemis?" he asked as he ignored what I was trying to tell him. My eyes narrowed because it was something that I hated people doing me, which caused me reach over and turn his head toward me.

"Sam, you need to listen to me," I said.

"About what? Obviously I'm taking you to some place that you can't seem to tell us about," he said, causing me to sigh and nod my head.

"But I've asked you to come with me because I think you will understand about why I know so much about the shtriga. We're going to see an old family friend of my father's," I said, causing him to give me a confused look and me to just shake my head.

"Just drive. I'll explain when we get there. If your brother calls and asks for information, tell him to call Kiki since she's doing all the research," I said. He gave me another look but merely shook his head and started driving. It only took about 15 minutes to get where we needed to go and I could tell that he was confused at where we were since it seemed like a nice neighborhood. Knocking on the front door, it was a few seconds before a woman opened the door and gave a smile when she saw me.

"Oh Artemis! Look at you. So beautiful. And with a guy. Oh he's so handsome," she said as she pulled the both of us in. I gave an apologetic look toward Sam before shaking my head at the woman.

"Aunt Kelly, I don't have a boyfriend. This is Sam. He's a friend I found myself entangled with a couple of months ago on a hunt. Him and his brother Dean were hunting some of the same things we were, so we just teamed up. Is Uncle James home?" I asked, causing her to nod and head up the stairs in search of my uncle.

"Uncle? Aunt? Artemis, you said we were coming to visit a family friend," Sam said, causing me to nod.

"We are. James and Kelly McAdams. They're friends of my father's. Figured they could help us with the shtriga. They're kind of like my aunt and uncle in a way. When you're young, and living in my family, it's respectful to call family friends aunt and uncle. It's a long story but you get the picture," I said as I led him into the living room, which seemed to be in a bit of a disarray from my uncle looking for what I needed.

"So this is you?" I turned around to see him pointing to a picture on the wall, causing me to step closer to see what it was. It was a family portrait of myself, my father, my mother, and my brother.

"Yeah. This is a family portrait. The last one, I think, right before my mother died. That's Bryce," I said as I pointed to a baby in my mother's arms.

"Your little brother?" he asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. There are pictures all over this place of me and my brother when we were kids," I replied.

"Pictures stopped coming when you were eight." I looked up as my uncle and aunt entered into the living room and gave us a look.

"Why?" Sam asked, a look of confusion crossing his face.

"Bryce died," I replied, causing him to give me an even more confused look than before. Sighing, I ran a hand over my face as I motioned for him to sit down, my aunt and uncle seating themselves across from us.

"When I was eight, my brother got really sick and died in the hospital. He was just three," I said as I sat down next to him.

"I know. You told me that back when I first started having nightmares about that family I had never met before," he said, causing me to nod.

"Yeah, well he didn't die an ordinary death of pneumonia," I said.

"What?" he asked.

"Sam, Bryce died because of the shtriga," I replied, causing him to give me a look before his eyes widened at the thought.

"What?" he asked.

"Sam, when I was eight, my family was living in Los Angeles, which is where I currently reside with Kiki when we're not hunting, and kids started getting sick. Everyone was saying it was pneumonia, but it was so much more. Kind of like Fitchburg now. Some of my friends got sick and then it came for my brother. I had been reading my brother a story and had fallen asleep in the chair right next to his bed. I knew that the window was latched shut because my dad always made sure that all the doors and windows were locked up tight and there were no monsters in the closet or under the bed. But some how it got open and my brother got sick. Doctors were saying it was pneumonia, but I knew it was so much more. Especially since I had saw a black set of robes that night my brother got sick," I replied.

"Artemis…."

"Let me finish. I know it works through siblings because when some of the kids in my neighborhood got sick, it was always the families that had children. Had siblings. I thought I was dreaming a nightmare when it came to the black robes, but I would wake up screaming at night for days afterward thinking that the robed figure would be coming for me next," I said, sniffing just a bit when I felt the tears start coming to my eyes.

"And it should have. Why didn't it if it works its way through siblings?" he asked.

"Her father sent her to us for a few days. He was afraid that the pneumonia would catch on and didn't want her to catch it. So he sent her to live with us for a few days until Bryce got better," Uncle James replied.

"But he didn't," Sam said, causing me to nod.

"He died about three or four days later. My step-mother was so furious. Blamed me for the entire ordeal. Said that it was my fault that Bryce had gotten pneumonia and had died," I said, shaking my head.

"But you were just a kid, Artemis. It couldn't of been your fault," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"Lydia didn't see it that way. She was always blaming Artemis for everything that went wrong. Her two girls were the perfect little angels in the entire world and Bryce was just too cute to do anything wrong, but Artemis was always in trouble for something with Lydia. Even if it wasn't her fault," Aunt Kelly said.

"Ok. So let me get this straight. You know about the shtriga because it went after your brother and you have felt guilt about it ever since?" he asked as he looked at me, causing me to shake my head.

"My dad died a couple of weeks later right after my step-mother committed suicide. I was sent to live with my mother's relatives because my father's side of the family was dead, which didn't help much since my mother's side of the family should have been dead since they completely ignored me and left me to do whatever the fuck I wanted. Anyways, I began to research a lot of different things and when it came to my 14th birthday, I pretty much hopped a plane back to Los Angeles and started hunting," I replied.

"You said you were into all the mythology and stuff. And Kiki and Dean also said you had a memory like an elephant," he said, causing me to nod.

"Her memory is probably the most brilliant memories I have ever heard of in my entire life. She can remember years and years of her life right now if she wanted to. Although she can't remember the things she hides when she was eight while she was here. That is why our living room is in such a disarray," Uncle James said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"What are you looking for? And is this where you were yesterday all day?" he asked, causing me to nod.

"I was looking for some books," I replied.

"What kind of books?" he asked.

"Sketch books. I'm assuming you've seen her with one?" Aunt Kelly asked, causing Sam to nod.

"I use to have nightmares and every morning when I woke up after a nightmare, I would draw what I saw. I was hoping they would help us solve what was going on right now. Especially since Michael's brother Asher is in the hospital," I said, causing Sam to give me a look before he nodded in understanding.

"Well, I've looked in just about every place I can think of and I can't find them," Uncle James said, causing me to roll my eyes as I stood up.

"Well that just means you haven't searched hard enough," I said, causing Sam to give me a look before shaking his head with a chuckle. Rolling my eyes again, I grabbed onto his arm and dragged him up the stairs and down the hall to one of the bedrooms. Pushing open the door, I made my way toward the closet while Sam kind of walked around the room.

"I'm assuming this is the room you spent most of your time in when you were here?" he asked, causing me to nod as I pulled the closet doors open before looking at him. Casting a glance around the room, I shook my head and knelt down to the floor to start digging through whatever was there. There was a few minutes of silence before Sam spoke again.

"I'm really sorry about your brother, Artemis," he said, causing me to stop doing what I was doing and look up at him. I studied him for a few seconds before nodding.

"Thanks," I said, causing him to sigh and kneel down next to me as he began helping me with whatever was on the floor.

"Your life seems to be a whole bunch of secrets just bundled up into this giant ball of pain. Have you ever told anyone about any of this that you've been telling in bits and pieces?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Do you honestly think someone is going to believe me? Sam, if I told anyone even half of what I'm telling you, I'd end up in the nuthouse quicker than you can count to one. It's better left untouched," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"Artemis, all this pain you've been carrying with you is finally eating you alive. It's eating you alive and you're doing nothing but letting it. Pretty soon you're going to want to kill yourself," he said, causing me to sigh.

"I've thought about it. I've thought about letting my life end so I don't have to feel that pain and misery anymore, but then I remember that what I'm searching for is still going to be there and my parents' death and my brother's death will still be in vain. God Sam. I don't know what to think or do anymore. I'm so confused. I'm breaking," I said as I felt my voice break and the tears start coming down my face.

"You're not breaking, Artemis. You're realizing that people care about you. I care about you and Kiki cares about. Hell. Even Dean cares about you and you know it. But we can't help you if you don't let us, Artemis. I'm trying with all that I know about you to help you. To keep you from doing the wrong thing so when it comes time for the right thing, you'll be fine. You'll be ready. But it's hard when you drop another bomb on us. On me. I'm really sorry about your brother, Artemis. I really am. But do you really think that Bryce would want you to be suffering the way you are? Do you really think he wants to see his big sister suffering and wanting to possibly end her life just because she can't stand that pain and misery anymore? What would you be doing right now if he was alive?" he asked as the tears started to flow harder.

"The same thing Dean does for you," I whispered as he nodded.

"I know it's hard, Artemis, but I really need to break you out of this tough exterior. Or else you're going to drown and kill yourself in this pain and misery. Please let us help you. Let me help you," he said. I looked at him for a second before allowing him to wrap me into a hug as I started to cry hard.

"It's going to be alright, Artemis. I'm promising you that it's going to be alright," he said as he stroked my back. I wanted to believe him. I did. But I wasn't sure if it was possible or not. After a few minutes, I pulled away from him and wiped at my eyes.

"I totally need to make sure I check my face before we leave here or else Dean will find someway to make fun of me. God forbid he gets a chance," I said, causing Sam to chuckle.

"Why don't you just ask him out on a date, Art? You know you like him. You're just too stubborn to admit it," he said, laughing as I punched him in the arm.

"You're gross, you know that? Never in a million years will I ever like Dean Winchester," I said.

"Ok then. Explain the outfits. You're always dressing up in these very strange and elaborate outfits every day and Dean always makes a comment," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Because your brother is the typical guy. He flirts and tries to get with the girl who has big assets, a great body,…."

"Which you totally have. Which is what Dean always looks for in a girl…."

"Yeah. To hook up and sleep with. I'm not that type of girl. Besides, even if I could date a guy, I can't," I said, shaking my head.

"Why not? You're a nice girl underneath all of that hard exterior," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"It's kind of complicated. Um….I really don't know about those books," I said as I quickly changed the subject. He gave me a look and shook his head, but I knew he wasn't going to push it.

"Well I don't know. You're the one that is suppose to remember these kinds of things. Hang on though," he said as his cell phone rang and he got up to answer it. Shaking my head, I began to filter through the closet again and was about to give up, when I saw a rather large split running down the wall. Curious, I smacked my fist against it and was surprised when it opened just slightly. Pulling it back, I let out a gasp when I realized that it was the secret hiding spot where I put things when I was a kid. Noticing a huge pile of books in the corner, I quickly pulled them out and threw them outside the closet before maneuvering myself out of the closet and flipping through the books.

"You find something?" Sam asked as he shut his cell phone.

"Yeah. I think these are it," I said, flipping through each of the books and nodding to confirm that they indeed were the sketch books I was looking for.

"Well good because we need to get going. Kiki found something real good and we need to get back to the motel now," he said, causing me to give him a look before nodding and gathering up the books. Situating them in my bag, we quickly hurried downstairs and bid my aunt and uncle, after promising them that I would be back to visit them soon, good-bye before heading back to the motel. God knows what Kiki found.

* * *

"We should have thought of this before. Doctor's a perfect disguise. You're trusted. You can control the whole thing."

"Huh. That son of a bitch," Dean said as he took off his jacket and threw it onto a chair before walking into the bathroom.

"I'm surprised you didn't draw on him right there," Sam said as Dean came back out with a towel in his hand to wipe at his face and neck.

"Yeah, well first of all, I'm not going to open fire in a fucking Pediatrics ward," he said.

"Good call," Kiki said as she looked up from her laptop.

"Second, it wouldn't have done any good because the bastard's bulletproof unless he's chowin' down on something. And third, I wasn't packing, which is probably a good thing because I probably would've just burned a clip in him on principle alone," he said.

"You're getting wise in your old age, Dean," Sam said.

"You're damn right. Because now I know how we're going to get it," he said, causing me to look up from looking through my old sketch books to look at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The shtriga works through siblings. Last night, it went after…."

"Asher," I said, causing him to nod.

"Tonight it's going to go after Michael," he said.

"Then we have to get him out of here," Sam said.

"No. No. That would blow the whole deal," he said.

"What?" Kiki asked as we looked at Dean in shock, knowing what he was getting at.

"Yeah," he replied, nodding.

"Dean, you want to use the kid as bait? Are you nuts? No. Forget it. That's out of the question…."

"It's not out of the question. If this thing disappears, it could be years before we get another chance," he said.

"Michael's a kid and I'm not going to dangle him in front of that thing like a worm on a hook!" Sam yelled.

"Dad did not send me here to walk away," he said.

"Send you here? He didn't send you here. He sent us here," Sam said.

"This isn't about you, Sam. Alright? I'm the one that screwed up. It's my fault. There's no telling how many kids have gotten hurt because of me," he said, causing me to raise an eyebrow in his direction before looking at Kiki, who was just as confused as I was.

"What are you saying, Dean? How is it your fault?" Sam asked. I watched of any kind of movement from Dean or any words from him, but he was just quiet, which was unusual for him. He usually always had something to say.

"Dean, you've been hiding something from the get-go. You're just as bad as Artemis when it comes to this kind of stuff. Since when does dad bail on a hunt? Since when does he let something get away? Now, talk to me, man. Tell me what's going on," Sam said as I watched Dean sit on our bed and sigh. It was about a minute before he began to speak.

"Fort Douglas, Wisconsin. It was, uh, the third night in this shit room and I was climbing the walls, man. I needed to get some air…." I stopped paying attention to Dean as the drawings in my books began to catch my eye once again. Flipping through the pages, I slightly cringed at some of the things that I had drawn as a kid. It was like I really didn't have a normal childhood or something. Flipping the pages again, I froze when I found what I was looking for. Turning the pages some more, I saw that there were about five or six drawings of the same black robed figure with a bluish-white bubble around it's mouth and a child on a bed. Tilting the book up slightly, I realized that it was the shtriga.

"Dad just grabbed us and booked. Dropped us off at Pastor Jim's, which was about three hours away. By the time he got back to Fort Douglas, the shtriga disappeared. It was…It was just gone. It never resurfaced until now. Heh. You know, dad never spoke about it again. I didn't ask. But he, uh….he looked at me different, you know? Which was worse. Not that I blamed him. He gave me an order and I didn't listen. I almost got you killed." I looked up from my sketch book as Dean came to the end of his story. Or whatever you wanted to call it.

"You were just a kid," Sam said.

"Don't. Just don't. Dad knew this was unfinished business for me. He sent me here to finish it," he said, causing me to stand up and move quickly across the room toward the bed. Before he could do anything, I had tossed the book beside him and straddled his lap, sharply turning his face toward mine as I knew my eyes flashed dangerously.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened, Dean. You were just a kid. You were only 10 when it came after your brother. I was only 8 and my brother died. I suffered years thinking it was my fault because of my step-mother, but I know my brother's death is not my fault. And the shtriga almost getting your brother is not your fault," I said, causing him to give me a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" he asked as I tried to keep the tears from coming again, heavily losing it if you wanted to call it that.

"My brother died when I was eight from pneumonia. Just like these kids in this town are now. But I know, just like you know, they're not dying because of pneumonia. They're dying because the shtriga is taking their life and leaving them to die. It came to Los Angeles when I was eight and it took my brother's life along with several other children in the town. It would have gotten me had my father not sent me here to Fitchburg to stay with some family friends. But just like Fort Douglas, after it had gotten my brother, it just disappeared. Not a trace. Until now. That's what the disappearances and not wanting to go to the hospital are all about. My brother died in the hospital because of the shtriga. I use to wake up screaming in the middle of the night because of nightmares. Because I thought I was seeing things when I saw a black robed figure by my brother's bed that night," I said as I reached for the sketch book and showed it to him. He took it from me and flipped through those few pages before looking up at me.

"Damn it," he hissed as he made to stand up, but quickly grabbed onto my waist when he realized his mistake and nearly sent me tumbling. Pulling me back up toward him so that I was still, in a sense, straddling his lap, I wanted to cry when I saw the look in his eyes. I knew that look and I could feel the tears starting to spring to my eyes with no stopping if they started.

"Dean…"

"Don't, Artemis," he said as he shook his head.

"Dean…."

"Artemis….." But I grabbed his chin and made him look at me as I felt the tears start to slowly fall down my face again.

"It wasn't your fault. Bryce's death was not your fault. Please don't blame yourself," I said as he shook his head.

"Artemis…."

"Dean, please," I whispered, biting back a cry as I shook my head at him trying to protest. He stared at me before sighing and looking over at Sam.

"We have to kill this thing, Sam," he said.

"But using Michael? I don't know, Dean. I mean, how about one of us hides under the cover, you know? We'll be the bait," Kiki said.

"No. It won't work. It's got to get close enough to feed. It'll see us. Believe me, I don't like it, but it's got to be the kid," he said, causing me to nod as I moved myself off of his lap and sat next to him, wiping at my eyes to try to stop crying. He gave me a look, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Stop looking at me like that. I'm not going to break," I said, causing him to stare at me still before a smirk formed on his lips.

"Not yet you won't," he said, causing me to give him a look of confusion before looking over at Kiki and Sam. They merely shrugged, causing me to turn back to Dean, who still had the smirk on his face. I stared at him for a second before I realized what exactly it was he was getting at.

"You bloody fucking jerk! Do you know how perverted you are?" I asked as I punched him in the chest before he bounced off the bed with a laugh and grabbed his jacket.

"How the hell was I not suppose to say something in that range of words? You were straddling my lap for heaven sakes. And in another one of your hot and sexy outfits you must of bought in your shopping spree in the last town we were in because that's new and I've seen you wear several of your other pieces of clothing many times since we've been hunting together," he replied, smirking and motioning for Sam to follow him out of the motel room, me glaring at him until the door shut. Kiki stared at me for a minute before speaking.

"When are you two just going to admit you like each other?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes and head into the bathroom to wipe my face. She leaned against the doorway as I splashed water against my face and wiped off the makeup with a washcloth.

"I'm serious, Artemis. You know there is attraction between the two of you and you're being the most stubborn by not letting it happen. It's like you're afraid he might die or something if you admit you love him or something," she said, causing me to freeze in my actions at her words. Of course she didn't know as she continued to talk, but shivers got sent up my spine as the words just stuck to me. Not wanting to think of them anymore, I quickly dried my face and let down my hair before walking over to the bed I shared with Dean and taking out my contacts.

"Well that went shitty. Now what?" I put my glasses on just as Sam and Dean came back into the room from their talk with Michael.

"What did you expect? You can't ask an adult to do something like that, let alone a kid," Sam replied, shaking his head.

"I'm assuming "get Michael involved" was a complete bust?" I asked as Dean gave me a nod. I sighed and was just about to grab my sketch book when there came a knock at the door. Looking over at my companions in confusion, I went to the door and was surprised to see Michael standing on the other side.

"Uh…Dean?" I asked as I looked back at him. He gave me a look and came toward the door, which like myself, was a bit surprised to see Michael standing there.

"If you kill it, will Asher get better?" he asked, causing both Dean and I to look at one another before looking back at Michael.

"Honestly, we don't know," I replied.

"You said you both were a big brother and a big sister?" he asked as he looked between the two of us.

"Yeah," Dean replied as I nodded.

"You would take care of your little brother? And you too, if he were still alive? You would do anything for him?" he asked as he nodded to Dean and then looked to me. I gave Dean a look before looking back at Sam as he gave me a look. I gave him a weak smile before turning to look back at Michael.

"Yeah, I would," Dean replied, nodding.

"If Bryce was still alive, there would be no questions about it," I added as I too nodded. Michael stared at us for a second before nodding.

"Me too. I'll help," he said, causing Dean and I to look at one another once again before looking back at Sam and Kiki, who gave us smiles. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair as I knew we were going to be in for a long night.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"This camera has night vision on it, so we'll be able to see you as clear as day. Are we good?"

"Hair to the right. There. There," Sam replied from the other room as I set up a camera that was linked to Sam's computer somehow. Don't ask me. I just did as he said while Artemis and Kiki did whatever it was they had to do.

"What am I to do?" Michael asked as I walked over to his bed after fixing the camera just right.

"Just stay under the covers," I replied.

"And if it shows up?" he asked.

"Well, we'll be right in the next room. We're going to come in with guns. So as soon as we do, you roll off this bed and you crawl under it," I replied as he thought about it for a second before looking at me.

"What if you shoot me?" he asked.

"We won't shoot you. We're good shots. Especially Artemis. Her shot is as clear as day. She'll hit right on the target. We're not going to fire until you're clear though, okay?" I asked, causing him to nod. I sighed and thought about the next thing on the list.

"Have you heard a gunshot before?" I looked up as Artemis stood in the doorway to the room.

"Like in the movies?" he asked.

"It's going to be a lot louder than in the movies, kiddo. So do as Dean says and stay under the bed, cover your ears and do not come out until we say so. Like Dean said, I've got a good shot, but you can never be too careful," she replied as I nodded. He gave us both a look before nodding.

"Michael, you sure you want to do this? You don't have to. It's okay. I won't be mad. Artemis won't be mad," I said as I looked at him.

"No, I'm okay. Just don't shoot me," he said, causing Artemis to chuckle.

"We're not going to let anything happen to you. Promise," I said as I gave him a nod before I got up and headed into the next room with Artemis giving Michael one last look before following behind me.

"You think he's going to be ok?" Kiki asked as she looked up from Sam's laptop, in which we had a clear view of the inside of Michael and Asher's room.

"He'll be fine. I'll be damned if that bloody fucking thing is going to suck his soul out. Or whatever it is the shtriga sucks out of children. I watched it suck my brother's life out. I'm not about to let it do the same to Michael," Artemis replied as she sat down into a chair next to Sam.

"Artemis…."

"Sam, don't start," she said, shaking her head as I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before sitting down next to her.

"Art, I know it's killing you to face this thing. It's killing me too because I screwed up back in Fort Douglas and nearly got my brother killed. But you're going to get yourself hurt if you don't pull your mind out of where ever it is," I said, causing her to give me a look before leaning forward and locking her eyes with mine. I gave a slight wince at the iciness that was filling them, but I knew that it was only because she was finally coming face to face with one of the things she had been hunting for in the last couple of years.

"I would die a thousand deaths, just like you, to put this thing to hell. Or where ever it's going to when we kill it. I just can't put that out of my mind. I'm coming face to face with something I've been hunting for years and it's…."

"Scary?" I asked, causing her to give me a look before nodding. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair again and looked at her.

"Artemis, I know how you feel. To come against something that took something away from you. Or nearly hurt someone you love. I know how you're feeling because I'm feeling that way too. And Sam and I are both feeling scared and nervous about what will happen when we finally face the demon that killed our mom and Jessica. But you have to take it one step at a time and one day at a time. I don't really think you understand that concept just yet," I said as she shrugged.

"I wish I did," she said, causing me to sigh and look over at Sam.

"Let her go, Dean. We need her in a good state for when the shtriga gets here," he said, causing me to nod.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"3 o'clock. You sure these iron round are going to work?" he asked.

"Consecrated iron rounds. And yeah, it's what dad used last time," I replied, causing him to give me a look before looking back at his laptop. Glancing over at Kiki, I saw her give me a similar look and I raised an eyebrow before looking back at my brother as he spoke.

"Hey Dean. I'm sorry," he said, causing me to give him a confused look.

"For what?" I asked.

"You know. I've really given you a lot of shit for always following dad's orders. But I know why you do it," he replied, causing me to give him a look before letting out an aggravated sigh.

"Oh god. Kill me now," I muttered, shaking my head before looking over at Artemis. She was staring at me but he turned her head when I looked at her, almost as if she was upset or something. Shaking my head, I sighed before looking back at my brother's laptop. That was when I noticed something by the window in Michael's bedroom.

"Look," I said, catching the attention of my companions as they looked over at the computer. As we watched, what looked like a tree branch had turned into a hand with long fingers and it was looking like it was going to open the window. And I was right. It had opened the window and was now standing in the middle of Michael's room.

"Now?" Kiki asked as she and Artemis both cocked their guns.

"Not yet," I replied, shaking my head. We watched as the shtriga made it's way toward Michael and as it drew closer, I could sense Artemis getting very uncomfortable. Looking over at her, I knew that the Artemis we knew, especially myself, was gone as her eyes were so icy that it was hard to tell if there was even a single warmth bone in her body.

"Dean…."

"Now," I said, causing the four of us to quickly stand up and make our way into the next room.

"Hey! Michael, get down!" Artemis yelled, catching the attention of the shtriga, which allowed Michael to move out of harms way before we took our shots. And let me tell you. I'm dead serious when I say Artemis has a shot clear as day. The amount of shots we rang out all together completely knocked the shtriga to the ground, not that I was surprised, but the fact that it had fallen over the side of Michael's bed was worrying me just a bit.

"Mike, you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Just sit tight. Artemis, what the fuck are you doing?" I asked as I finally took notice of Artemis slowly making her way toward the bed. Toward the shtriga on the floor next to the bed. I slowly began making my way toward her as she knelt slightly at the edge of the bed and peered downward. As I made to touch her arm, she glanced slightly at me before turning her head and letting out a scream as the shtriga came back to life, or whatever since apparently he wasn't dead already, and tossed her across the room.

"Artemis!" I yelled before I too was tossed across the room by the shtriga.

"Sam!" I tried to heave myself up as I watch both Kiki and Sam get thrown by the shtriga, but it was kind of hard with the wooden shelves that had fallen on me due to my throw across the room.

"Sam!" I looked up at Kiki's screams as I saw the shtriga pinning my brother down to the bed and beginning to suck the life out of him. Pulling the gun up, I pointed it toward the shtriga.

"Hey!" I yelled, catching it's attention and shooting it straight between the eyes. I watched as it landed backwards and Sam start to heave air into his lungs as if the thing had been sucking the oxygen from him.

"You ok, little brother?" I asked, causing him to nod slightly and give me the thumbs up as I pushed myself up from the debris and help him up. Kiki shakingly got to her feet and grasped onto Sam as she seemed to get just slightly wobbly. Walking toward the shtriga that was now on the floor, I put about three more shots into it before it completely started to fade away and white wisps of air began to float out of its face. Turning to look at my brother, he gave me a nod before looking over at Michael, who had crawled out from under the bed to observe the now pile of black robes. He gave me a look and I gave him a small chuckle as I realized that he was looking at me with a hell of a lot of respect.

"Where's Artemis?" I looked over at Kiki as she looked at Sam and I and for the first time since we had been thrown against the wall, I had not seen Artemis. Turning around, I noticed her figure beneath some of the debris. Not moving.

"Shit. Artemis," I said as I quickly hurried to her side and tossed some of the debris away to see that she was indeed unconscious. Gently picking her up into my arms, I ran a hand down the side of her face as I spoke.

"Come on, princess. You got to wake up. You didn't hit your head that damn hard," I said, sighing with relief when her eyes began to flutter open. She blinked a few times before they shifted to me.

"Dean?" she asked in confusion.

"It's about damn time, princess," I replied as I helped her into a sitting position. She stared at me for a second before she rolled her eyes.

"Fucking jerk," she said before her eyes trailed over to Sam and Kiki to Michael to the pile of black robes on the floor. Her body immediately stiffened when she saw it and I sighed as I felt her body begin to shake.

"Art…."

"It's gone? It's really gone?" she asked, looking up at me. My heart nearly broke when I saw the tears in her eyes. Not knowing what else to do, I nodded and that's all it took before she was in tears. Sighing, I wrapped my arms around her and gently rubbed her back. Looking up at Sam, I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. One down and two to go for her.

* * *

"Has anyone seen Mr. Hoppy? I can't find him anywhere."

"Did you try looking under your bed? Dean likes to stick him there when he gets annoyed with it."

"Dean!" I simply smirked and headed outside to the Impala with my bags just as Michael's mom pulled up.

"Hey Joanna. How's Asher doing?" I asked as she approached.

"Have you seen Michael?" she asked. But before I could reply, Michael came running out of the main office yelling for his mom.

"How's Ash?" he asked.

"I got some great news. Your brother is going to be fine," she replied.

"Really?" he asked, excitement building up in his voice.

"Yeah. Really. No one can explain it. It's a…it's a miracle. They're going to keep him in overnight, but after that, he's coming home," she said as she looked over at us.

"That's great," I said.

"How are all the other kids doing?" Sam asked.

"Good. Real good. A bunch of them should be checking out in a few days. Dr. Travis says the ward's going to be like a ghost town," she replied.

"Dr. Travis? What about Dr. Heidecker?" he asked.

"Oh, he wasn't in today. Must have been sick or something," she replied.

"Yeah, yeah. Must have," I said, causing her to give me a look before simply shrugging.

"So did anything happen while I was gone?" she asked as she looked over at Michael.

"Nah. Same old stuff," he replied.

"Okay. We're going to go see Ash," she said, causing a smile to light up on his face.

"Now?" he asked.

"Only if you want to," she replied with a laugh. He looked over at me and I gave him a nod and a grin before he ran off toward his mother's vehicle. She laughed and shook her head.

"I uh…better get going before he hot-wires the car and drives himself," she said before she gave us a nod and walked back to her vehicle. Looking over at my brother, I shook my head and shut the trunk of the Impala just as Artemis and Kiki made their way out of the room. Looking over at Artemis, I raised an eyebrow at her outfit. She was wearing long, loose pajama bottoms and a simple tank top that had Snoopy on both of them and her hair was pulled back into a simple bun as she carried her shoulder bag in one hand and had her rabbit under the other arm. Sensing my look, she tossed her bag into the back seat and walked over to me.

"Hey Sam. Give us a minute," I said, causing my brother to give us both a look before shaking his head and getting into the front.

"Your brother is going to be the death of me," she said, shaking her head as I chuckled.

"Yeah, well Kiki isn't all that innocent either. What's with the outfit?" I asked, causing her to look down at herself and shrug.

"Figured it would be nice to just relax on our way to the next town that we're going to be fighting in. Maybe actually sleep on the way there," she replied with a small laugh as I shook my head. We stood in silence for a few seconds before I spoke again.

"You know that Sam and I are here for both you and Kiki when you need us, right?" I asked, causing her to give me a slightly confused look. Sighing, I shook my head and let out a soft chuckle.

"I know I'm a jerk and I know that you don't like it when I harass you about your clothes, although I'm being completely honest when I say that I would definitely jump you if you weren't such a bitch, but with everything that is going on with you, especially after what happened last night, you need to know that Sam and I are on your side. We want to help you. And even though Sam and I don't know what it is you're cursed from, you have to admit that it's one down and two to go with finding what you're searching for," I said, causing her to sigh and brush some fallen hair out of her face.

"I know. It's just hard to comprehend that my brother's death is no longer in vain. He's free to live in peace and his soul is no longer consumed by that monster. And I do know that you and Sam are here for me. I think I would be losing my mind right about now if you weren't," she said, causing me to nod.

"So we're good? At least for the next hundred miles?" I asked, causing her to chuckle and nod.

"At least for the next hundred miles. But Dean, you need to know that Sam is my comfort bubble and you're my rock," she replied, causing me to give her a slight look of confusion. Her rock?

"Dean, you're always protecting me and you're always the first person I see, whether I've hit my head or it's waking up in the motel room. Even though we don't get along, I don't know what I do if you weren't there to protect me like you do Sam. Thank you," she said, causing me to give her a look before nodding.

"Regardless of our status with one another, Artemis, I will always protect Sam, I will always protect you, and most of all, I will always protect you. But can we get off this chick flick moment?" I asked, causing her to look at me before I laughed at the sudden face full of pink fur in my face.

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

"You know it," she said, sticking her tongue out at me before getting into the Impala. Shaking my head, I threw myself into the driver's seat and started the car. Looking over at my brother, I gave him a glare as he smirked at me and looked into the rear view mirror where Artemis and Kiki were arguing over something on Kiki's laptop. Shaking my head once again, I pulled out of the motel parking lot and started heading toward our next destination. She was going to drive me insane that girl was. And for some reason, I liked it.


	11. Chapter 10: Provenance

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Author's Note****:** Thanks to all of my readers for being so patient. These past two to three weeks have just been so hectic with finals and moving home, especially with work and the summer classes I'm beginning to get ready to take over the summer. Three classes and work are going to put me slightly behind in getting chapters out as fast as I had been prior to finals week. But I will be getting chapters out as quickly as I can. On another note, please be aware that this story will be taking a slight turn of events after the first episode of the second season. So this means that this story will have four more episodes that it will directly follow before it turns off that path and focuses more on Artemis and her problems, which also will introduce a new character that will definitely play an important part in the story. Once this story is complete, there will actually be two other stories (Breathe of Life and Twists of Fate) that follow, which will get back on track with the episodes at the end of Breathe of Life. Enjoy!

* * *

**Provenance**

"You're such an ignorant jerk!"

"I'm an ignorant jerk? You should be the one to talk! You're a stubborn bitch!"

"Hey! I'd watch who you're talking to, Samuel!"

"Hey! Ricky and Lucy, pipe it down! You're not helping the headache!" I lifted my head to give Sam and Kiki a glare as I threw a pillow in their direction, but they simply ignored me as they took their fight outside, causing me to roll my eyes and lift my arm to squint up at the watch on my wrist. I groaned and dropped my head back on the pillow as I realized that it was only a bit before 7. Why the fuck would the two of them be arguing at this time of morning, especially since I had a fucking headache like hell.

"I'm going to kill them and bury them alive when…." But I stopped talking to myself when I realized that I had a bit of weight on top of me that had shifted just slightly. Well, it wasn't entirely on top of me. Just a head. On my chest. Lifting my head just slightly again, my eyes widened when I realized that Artemis was sound asleep curled against me with her head on my chest. How she had slept through Sam and Kiki yelling at the top of their lungs was beyond me, but what I wanted to know was how the hell the two of us, meaning Artemis and myself, ended up in the situation we were in now. Not that I was really complaining. She was cute when she slept, but I really didn't want to be on the end of her wrath when she woke up and discovered what was happening or going on.

"You didn't stop them from drinking last night!"

"How the fuck was I suppose to keep my brother and your best friend from drinking last night? Especially Artemis?" I groaned as the door of the motel opened and Kiki and Sam came back into the room arguing still and from what it sounded like, it was about Artemis and I drinking last night.

"We were drinking last night?" Shifting my eyes back downward, I was met with the icy blue-green eyes of Artemis as she blinked several times to focus her sight from sleepiness, although I knew she could only make out my figure as being blurry.

"Apparently so, princess. Apparently so," I replied, causing her to groan and lay her head back down on my chest. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her before shaking my head and counting to three. Just as I reached three, she shot up, like I had predicted, and turned so quickly that she sent both of us tumbling out of the bed as I tried to keep her from falling off the side, which obviously was to no avail since I landed right on top of her.

"Ow….That so didn't help the headache," she muttered, causing me to grunt in agreement as I hoisted myself up on my elbows to look down at her. Her eyes were closed and her dirty blonde hair, which had somehow come undone from her bun, was splayed out with a few pieces over her face, making her look somewhat like a gorgeous angel. I think.

"Oh god. Not again. Didn't you two make out enough last night?"

"Ow! Damn it!" I exclaimed as Artemis once again shot up, whimpering as she smacked her forehead against mine. Rolling onto my back, I rubbed my forehead with a groan as she sat up with both of her hands holding her head in an attempt to probably keep her head from spinning.

"What do you mean "make out?"" she asked as she reached for her glasses on the side table next to the bed.

"What? The two of you don't remember? How hung over are you?" Sam asked as he looked at the both of us in disbelief. I looked over at Artemis as she looked at me in confusion before turning back to my brother and shaking my head as I sat up.

"I told you not to let them drink too much last night, Sam," Kiki said, causing Artemis to lean her body against the bed with a groan as the pair began to argue again.

"Hey! Do you two mind? We're both a little hung over here," I said as I motioned to Artemis and then myself before giving Sam and Kiki glares.

"Well that's really not our fault. You should not have been making her jealous last night, Dean," he said, causing me to give him a look of confusion. Make Artemis jealous? What the fuck did I need to do that for?

"Dude, are you seriously telling me you don't remember hanging out with that girl last night? Drinking and then making out with Artemis because you were thinking with your downstairs brain instead of your upstairs?" he asked, causing Artemis to look up from her spot and give me a look before looking over at my brother.

"Please tell me we……"

"You're both still dressed in the clothes you were wearing last night. Or well, most of them anyways. So obviously you didn't sleep with each other. But you sure did make out with one another," Kiki said, causing me to groan.

"How come neither of us remember?" Artemis asked, causing Sam to scoff and shake his head.

"You two had so much to drink last night, I was surprised you weren't puking out your guts. Especially you, Artemis, since you're such a light weight," he replied.

"And we made out because….."

"You got severely jealous of Dean flirting with some chick last night. Brandy I think her name was. Then you two played pool and drank," Kiki replied, causing me to roll my eyes as some memories of last night started to filter back.

"I doubt that. Why the fuck would I be bloody jealous of Dean flirting with another girl? As far as I'm concerned, he's just a playboy anyway," she said, causing me to give her a glare as Sam snickered.

"Are you sure you weren't jealous, baby doll?" I asked with sarcasm, causing her to turn to me with a dirty look before she scoffed and got up to rummage through her bag for Tylenol.

"You call me baby doll again and you won't live to see the next chick you try to pick up," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes as I hoisted myself back up onto the bed.

"Whatever you say. Mind filling me in with what happened last night? Some things are coming back to me, but most of my memory is just fuzzy. Princess, toss me those," I said, causing her to look at the bottle of Tylenol in her hand before tossing it in my general direction.

"Do you really want to know?" Sam asked, causing Mr. Hoppy to fly across the room and hit him directly in the face. He picked it up with a glare and she merely stuck out her tongue, causing me to chuckle at her childish antics. Even with a headache and a hangover, she was still her pain in the ass self.

"Well…….

_Flashback_

"_I hate playing with you. You always win. You're like a hustler or something when it comes to pool." I looked over my shoulder from the girl I was talking to, Brandy I think her name was, to see Artemis and Kiki at a nearby pool table drinking beer and playing pool. From the sounds of it, Artemis was kicking Kiki's ass as usual and Kiki was complaining. As usual. Shaking my head, I turned back toward the girl, I sighed when I saw Sam wave me over. Trying to ignore him, I dropped my head in annoyance when he got impatient and waved me over again._

"_Alright, listen, I got to go. Hold that thought. I'll be right back, okay?" I asked, causing Brandy to nod before I grabbed the two glasses of beer I had ordered and headed toward my brother._

"_Alright. So I think I got something," he said, causing me to chuckle as I set the beers down and looked at him._

"_Oh yeah. Me too. I think we need to take a little shore leave, just a little bit. What do you think? Huh? I'm so in the door with this one. Come on," I said as I motioned toward Brandy, who was still up at the bar._

"_What are we today, Dean? Are we rock stars? Army rangers?" he asked._

"_Reality TV scouts looking for people with special skills. I mean, hey, it's not that far off, right? By the way. She's got a friend over there. Probably hook you up. What do you think?" I asked with a chuckle of humor as he shook his head._

"_Dean, uh, no thanks. I can get my own dates. Especially since I already have a girlfriend," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes._

"_Yeah. And a good one at that." I rolled my eyes again and winced slightly as Kiki smacked me in the back of the head before giving Sam a kiss on the cheek and sitting down next to him._

"_With a capital "duh" written on the end of that one, Winchester."_

"_Hey!" I exclaimed as Artemis snatched the beer I was drinking out of my hands and took a few sips before handing it back to me and motioning to the bartender to get her another one._

"_I don't have germs, you prick. What?" she asked as she rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Sam, who was looking at her with "the look." This "look" was only used by Sam for Artemis when he was evaluating her actions or words after she had done something. I really didn't understand it, but I think it was more of a look that an older brother or something would give to their child or sister or something._

"_How much money did you just make?" he asked._

"_Enough. Why?" she asked, causing him to narrow his eyes._

"_Art?" he asked, causing her to roll her eyes and pull some money out of her back pocket._

"_A little over 300," she replied as she showed it to him before shoving it back into her, causing me to look at her in surprise. She made a little over 300 in just playing pool?_

"_She's a bit of a hustler when it comes to pool. That's why I don't bet money anymore with her. She always ends up taking it all," Kiki said, shaking her head as Artemis sipped at her beer with a smirk._

"_Remind me never to bet against you in pool then. Anyways, what do you got?" I asked, turning my attention back to my brother, who picked up the newspaper he had been reading before._

"_Mark and Anna Telesca of New Paltz, New York, were both found dead in their home just a few days ago. Throats were slit. No prints, no murder weapons, all….Dean! No prints, no murder weapons, all windows and doors were locked from the inside," he replied, causing me to turn my attention, which had wondered to Brandy and her friend, back to my brother._

"_Could just be a garden-variety murder, you know? Not our department," I said as I sat down._

"_Nah. Dad says different," he said._

"_And what does your wise father say in that journal of his?" Artemis asked as she leaned against the table, looking around the bar before looking over at my brother._

"_Dad noted three murders in the same area of upstate New York. First one, uh, right here, 1912. The second one in 1945. And the third in 1970. The same. M.o. as the Telescas. Their throats were slit. Their houses were locked from the inside. So much time passed between the murders that nobody tracked the pattern. Except for dad. He always kept his eyes peeled for another," he replied._

"_And now we have another one," I said._

"_Exactly," he said with a nod._

"_Alright. It's worth checking out. We can't pick this up till first thing, though, right?" I asked, causing him to nod._

"_Yeah," he replied._

"_Good," I said before I grabbed my beer and headed back toward the ladies at the bar._

_**Artemis's POV**_

"_He is such a bloody fucking prick. Doesn't he know we have a job to do," I muttered, shaking my head in disgust as I watched Dean flirt with the girls he had been with earlier._

"_Jealous?" I turned my head to a smirking Sam and narrowed my eyes._

"_Oh please. If I was jealous, I'd be going over there and ripping out the fake blonde hair of the one girl and throwing the other girl across the bar. But I'm not jealous. So if you will excuse me, I'm going to go hustle some more guys out of their money," I said as I grabbed my beer and headed back toward the pool table. _

"_Hey sweet thing. Want to dance?"_

"_Unless you want your bloody ass kicked across this bar, I suggest you either make a bet on a game of pool or get lost," I replied, racking up the balls before looking up at the dark haired guy leaning up against the pool table._

"_Oh come on, doll face. One dance is not going to hurt," he said as he let his hand slide down my back and to my waist, pulling me close to him as he did so. My eyes narrowed and before he could say anything else, he was laying on the ground with my foot against his throat._

"_Are you going to make a bet or do you need to find yourself even more beaten up on?" I asked as he gagged for air. He barely chocked out a "yes" before I let my foot up and dumped what was left of my beer over top of him, causing the bar to go slightly silent._

"_When a girl says no, take it for what it's worth. But maybe next time you'll get a girl who's not a stubborn bitch like I am and wanted to kick the shit out of you. Now, either place your bet on the table or get out of my face. I won't ask again," I said, causing him to give me a look before quickly getting off the floor and hurrying away from me. Rolling my eyes, I finished racking the balls and was just about to grab a pool stick when I heard the crack of the balls being broken. Turning around, I saw Dean leaning over the table with a smirk as he stood up and looked at me._

"_You placing a bet, Winchester?" I asked as I grabbed a stick and leant against the table to analyze my shot._

"_Yeah. A night in bed with you," he replied with a cocky smile, causing me to roll my eyes and pocket a stripe._

"_I'm not one of those girls you can just pick up from a random bar, Dean. I'm not the barbies over there that you were trying to pick up for a little night time fun," I said, causing him to give me a look before he smirked and took his shot._

"_A little jealous, are we?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes._

"_I'm not jealous. I'm just sick of you thinking with your downstairs brain when we've got a case on our hands," I replied, causing him to stop and look up at me._

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch what you're saying. I seem to recall the number of times that you were off doing whatever while the rest of us were off working a case. So don't even go there," he said, causing me to roll my eyes._

"_At least my reasons were legitimate. I wasn't off thinking with the area between my legs like someone I know. So don't you even go there. And you're lucky you didn't bet anything because you just severely lost," I said as I pocketed the eight ball for the win. He gave me a look and rolled his eyes before motioning to the bartender to bring us more beers._

"_Plan on getting me drunk?" I asked as I gave a nod to the bartender and took a few sips of the beer before racking up another game._

"_Of course. That way it makes it easier to get you into bed. I mean, you can't blame me. You're wearing tight ass jeans with a corset like top. I'd jump you now if you weren't sober," he replied, brushing up against me slightly with a smirk. I gave him a look before I broke._

"_Well that won't happen any time soon," I said, causing him to give me a look before laughing. Cracking a smile, I took a sip of my beer and took another shot. About an hour later, I had no idea why, but I was cracking up so hard as Dean took another shot._

"_You think I'm funny, princess?" he asked as he took a sip of his beer._

"_I think you're a prick, but that's nothing new," I replied with a shrug as I took my shot. I was drunk and I knew it, but because I was drunk, I really wasn't thinking clearly, which could be seen with my uncontrollable laughter. He gave me a look but merely shook his head. _

"_I don't know what you see in some of those girls you try to pick up in the bar. I don't even know what they see in your arrogance," I said as I watched him take his shot._

"_You jealous?" he asked, causing me to snort with laughter._

"_Jealous? I don't think so. I may be drunk but I am not jealous," I replied, causing him to roll his eyes. I took another shot before I moved out of the way to let him take his shot, swaying to the tempo of the music playing. It wasn't fast but it wasn't slow either. _

"_You're not going to kick my ass if I ask you to dance are you, are you?" I shivered slightly as his voice rang huskily through my ear, but regained consciousness as I felt myself shake my head. He chuckled and before I knew what was happening, he had whipped me around and pushed me away from the pool table before pulling me roughly against him. I felt like my breath was being taken away as I stared up into those green eyes of his that were clouded over slightly, making them look black. Almost lust-like in a way._

"_See something you like?" he asked, a cocky smirk on his face as he swayed me slightly before dipping me low and bringing me back up against him._

"_Not in the slightest," I replied, causing him to raise an eyebrow. I stared at him for what seemed like a split second before I literally had my breath stolen from me as he kissed me. And it wasn't like the kiss he had used to get back at me for kissing him when we were trying to solve the Hell House case. This was passionate and just full of…well I don't know. But I think I was really drunk because I liked it. I mean, I really liked it._

"_We must be really wasted," he said as he pulled back, causing me to roll my eyes and pull his head back down to me._

"_You're going to be getting yelled at tomorrow anyway, so shut up and enjoy it while you can," I said before I let my lips crash against his again._

_End of Flashback_

**Dean's POV**

"No wonder I have a hangover. I made out with you!" I looked over at Artemis and nearly fell off the bed as she leaned against the doorway of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. When she had changed I would not know, but all I knew right now was that I was getting slightly hot and bothered with her standing there in absolutely nothing but the towel.

"Gee. Thanks, Artemis. Blame it on me. And will you stop standing there naked?" I asked, causing her to narrow her eyes before she slammed the door shut and I heard the water turn on. Rolling my eyes, I got up and grabbed a coffee from the table before looking over at Sam and Kiki. Kiki was sitting on the other bed looking on her laptop and Sam was sifting through papers that he probably had gathered about the case we were suppose to be working on.

"So what are you and Kiki arguing about this time? Besides the fact that Artemis and I got drunk last night?" I asked as I sat across from my brother.

"Everything. As usual," he replied, causing me to snicker.

"As in "couple fighting" or as in "Artemis and I fighting?"" I asked.

"Is there a difference?" he asked.

"Artemis and I are not a couple. Our fights are based upon our moods from hunts and our levels of annoyance with one another. Therefore you must be fighting couple style," I replied, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Here's a tip, Dean. Mind your business," Kiki said, looking up from her laptop with a glare.

"Hey. My brother was talking to me. Not you. Go back to your research or whatever the fuck you were doing and leave the conversation I'm having with my brother between my brother and I," he said, causing me to wince slightly as I grabbed my coffee and headed toward the bathroom, grabbing my clothes as I went. Pounding twice on the door, I opened and kicked it shut just as arguing erupted in the main room.

"They're at it again?" I grunted in response to Artemis's question as I closed the shower curtain and stripped myself of my clothing before turning the water on.

"What are they arguing about?" she asked.

"Sam says everything. As usual, which are his words and not mine," I replied.

"For once Dean is not in trouble for his mouth," she said with a snicker, causing me to stick my head out of the shower and flip her off. She merely laughed and stuck her tongue out at me before returning to putting on her make-up.

"You shouldn't be putting that shit on. I'll actually admit to you being one of the only girls that is actually beautiful without that shit," I said as I finished up and dried up before putting on a clean pair of boxers and stepping out of the shower.

"If you're looking for a repeat of last night, I don't think so. Hand me that shirt over there," she said, causing me to pick up her shirt hanging on the towel rack and toss it to her.

"I wasn't looking for a repeat of last night. I was just stating the obvious. Although I wouldn't mind a repeat," I said with a cocky smirk as I pulled my jeans on. She gave me a look and rolled her eye before quickly tying her wet hair back out of her face. I was about to say something when I noticed something on her back that was spread across her shoulder blades.

"Is that a tattoo?" I asked, causing her to turn her head slightly and give me a look.

"What does it look like?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her tongue. I rolled my eyes and turned her slightly so that I could get a better look. Sure enough, it was a tattoo. It was a heart with wings stretched across her shoulder blades while a ribbon wrapped itself four times around the heart, each with a name on the ribbons.

"Annabelle, Daniel, Artemis, and Bryce. Is this your family?" I asked as I looked up at her through the mirror. She gave me a look before nodding.

"I got that when I turned 18. Figured since I didn't have my family with me, I could carry them with me. Didn't you already ask me about my tattoo?" she asked, causing me to give her a look.

"If I did, do you think I would be asking again?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes before pulling her shirt of her head and letting her hair fall back down. Brushing it out, she twisted it a couple of times before pinning it to her head so that it fanned out slightly. Chuckling, I shook my head and slipped my shirt on before opening the bathroom door and heading into the room. Sticking her head out the door, I watched from the corner of my eye as she looked around the room before letting her eyes land on Kiki, who was fuming as Sam was bringing stuff to the car.

"Do I want to know?" I asked as I helped my brother out.

"We've broken up," he replied, causing me to stop what I was doing and look at him in shock.

"You what?" I asked.

"We've broken up," he replied, more slowly this time.

"I heard you the first time, dumb ass. Was it you or Kiki that said it's done?" I asked.

"I did. I'm tired of fighting with her over absolutely nothing. So I called it quits," he replied, causing me to whistle lowly and shake my head.

"Man I hate to be you right now," I said, causing him to give me a look.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, causing me to motion toward Artemis as she came outside and tossed her bag into the trunk and gave us questionable looks.

"Because for once I'm not on her "destroy" list. You are. Good luck," I replied, patting him lightly on the back and going back inside as I left him to his doom with telling Artemis. I could tell you right now that it was not going to be pretty because, even though Artemis loved Sam like a brother and took liking to Sam a lot more than me, she was very protective of her friend. And this was the one time I was glad not to be on her list.

"Come on, Kiki. Time to go," I said just as I heard "What?!" Cringing slightly, I made my way outside and put the last of our things into the trunk before shutting the lid as Kiki made her way out of the room, slamming the door shut as went.

"This has nothing to do with you, Artemis. Back off," Sam said as I watched Artemis's eyes narrow dangerously.

"Nothing to do with me? Sam, what the fuck did I tell you when you first admitted to liking Kiki? Huh? Ugh! Your just like your fucking brother with girls! No different!" she yelled before she let out a scream of frustration and got in the car. Kiki stared between the both of us before scoffing and following her best friend.

"Great. Now we have two fucking pissed off girls to deal with. Thanks a lot Sam," I said, causing him to roll his eyes as he shook his head.

"Well, if you're done laughing at my expense or whatever it is you're trying to imply, I swept the Telescas house with the EMF. It's clean. And last night, while you and Artemis were having a grand ol' time, I checked the history of the house. No haunting, no violent crimes. Nothing strange about the Telescas themselves either," he said.

"Alright, so if it's not the people, and it's not the house, then maybe it's the contents. A cursed object or something," I said.

"The house is clean," he said.

"Yeah, I know. You said that," I said.

"No, I mean, it's empty. No furniture or anything," he said as I gave him a strange look. Where the hell did all their stuff go then?

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"I hate him. How could he do such a thing?"

"Kiki, I'm sure that it's just a temporary thing. Although I feel just like you and want to kick Sam's ass. And why am I so dressed up?"

"Because it was my idea so that we wouldn't get kicked out of this place like Dean and Sam for being underdressed," Kiki replied as I sighed and smoothed out my blouse and skirt that Kiki had made me wear. Technically I wore this kind of stuff when on hunts, but a blouse and a knee length skirt? Somebody kill me now.

"Have you even seen the two of them yet? Because if they left us here to do the job, I'm going to kill them," I said before sighing.

"You ok?" she asked as she gave me a look.

"Besides knowing that I made out with Dean, I feel like absolute shit in these clothes, and the fact that the owner of this place knows me? Never better," I replied, causing her to give me a weird look.

"What do you mean that the owner knows you?" she asked.

"Well, he knows my mother's family. When I was younger, my mom use to always come all the way over from Los Angeles to New York just for these auctions. She never really found interest in buying anything, except this one rare necklace that I have locked away. My dad left it for me when he died because my mother always said that it would be mine when she died or whatever. Or when I got married. Whatever came first. Anyways, my mother's parents always came twice a year from England to these things. They always bought things while they were here. Always brought me with them. I've always hated these things," I replied with a shrug.

"Oh wow. Seriously? Wow. If I had known that, I so wouldn't have made you dress up or whatever," she said, causing me shake my head.

"It's alright. I see Dean over there talking to the owner. I'll be right back," I said, spotting Dean and walking toward him. As the owner walked away, I rolled my eyes and approached Dean as did Sam.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I asked, causing them both to look at me.

"Checking the place out. Isn't that what we're suppose to be doing? And what's with the outfit? You look horrible," Dean replied, causing me to roll my eyes and shake my head just as the owner approached again.

"I'm sorry but you are not on our guest list. I will have to ask you to leave," he said.

"It's alright, Mr. Blake. They're with me," I said, causing the man to look at me before his eyes widened in surprise.

"Young Miss Summers. How wonderful to see you again. I presume you are here with your grandparents?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No. My grandparents have already been here twice this year, am I right?" I asked, causing him to give me a look before nodding in agreement.

"Right. I forgot. Well then, I shall leave you to your looking. Although I must say you've definitely need a better use of a boyfriend," he replied, causing me to snort with laughter as Dean gave him and myself a glare.

"So I've been told. I'll do something about them. That will be all, Mr. Blake," I said, causing him to nod and walk away, giving Dean and Sam a look. Once he was out of earshot, both Sam and Dean rounded on me.

"You know the owner?" Sam asked.

"Well obviously if he addressed me. My grandparents always come here twice a year from England to buy something. My mother use to come here when I was little. Never bought anything, except this really rare necklace that I have hidden away, but loved to look around at all these things the auction house has to offer," I replied with a shrug.

"A rare necklace? Artemis, this place doesn't sell cheap things at all. How the hell could your mother afford something like that?" Dean asked, causing me to give him a look. They studied me for a second before Sam spoke.

"Wait a minute. Are you telling me…..No way," he said as he stared at me in shock.

"Sam, what?" Dean asked.

"Artemis, are you rich?" he asked, causing Dean to look over at me as I rolled my eyes.

"Perhaps," I replied.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Perhaps I'm rich," I replied, rolling my eyes again.

"How rich?" he asked.

"Oh I don't know. A couple thousand. Or a couple million. I really don't think too much about it. Look. My mother comes from a very wealthy family over in England. My grandfather is a Lord that serves on Parliament and my grandmother is friends with the Queen. My mother set up an inheritance from her money that she had from my grandparents before she met my father that my brother and I would get on our 21st birthday. It's kind of like a savings in a way. Anyways, it accumulated over the years," I replied.

"21 years wouldn't make millions of dollars, Artemis," Sam said, causing me to roll my eyes yet again.

"No shit, Sam. But my mother had a good set of inheritance when she turned 21 that I got when I turned 21. My parents died, Sam, when I was young. All the money my mother inherited at 21, what was left of it anyways, was put into the bank for me and my brother. When my father died and my brother died, all that money was given to me, which I got when I turned 21. So by technical standards, I'm rich," I said, shrugging.

"And you didn't care to share this with us?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Nope. Didn't really seem important. Kiki and I pay our fair share with you guys regardless of me being rich. So it doesn't really matter. Except for the clothes. I'm surprised the two of you didn't pick up on that when I was wearing some of the most ridiculous colors and such. All those outfits I have are about 300 a piece. I may be a bitch…."

"With expensive tastes," Dean said, causing me to roll my eyes and smack him in the head.

"I don't have expensive tastes. I'd much rather drink a beer and watch a football game thank you very……"

"My kind of girl," he said, causing me to smack him in the head again before turning to Sam.

"Let's go find whatever it was that killed the Telescas," I said before I moved off in the opposite direction. Looking at the objects, I merely shook my head at some of the prices that Mr. Blake was auctioning them off for. Even though I was rich and liked to spend money on some of the most ridiculous outfits sometimes, these prices were ridiculous.

"It's a fine example of American primitive, don't you think?" I looked up from the mirror I was examining to see a girl walking down a flight of steps. Rolling my eyes, I step from behind Dean to look at the painting him and Sam were staring at before looking at the girl as she approached us.

"Well, I would say that it's more of a grand wood than Grandma Moses. But you knew that. You just wanted to see if I did," Sam said as the girl let out a soft laugh, causing me to roll my eyes once again.

"Guilty. I must apologize for my father, gentleman and lady. I'm…."

"Sarah Blake," I said, causing her to look at me. She stared at me for a second before scoffing slightly.

"Artemis Summers. How lovely to see you again. It's been a while. I would assume you are here on your own as your grandparents have already been here," she said, causing me to cross my arms over my chest and give her a look.

"Artemis, don't start anything. Apparently you two know each other. I'm Sam and this is my brother, Dean," Sam said, cutting in before I could say or do anything.

"What can I help you with, Sam?" she said, causing me to scoff and shake my head.

"I'm going in search of Kiki. You're a dick, Sam," I said, giving him a glare before walking off in search of my friend. Normally I would be so pissed by this time of day with Dean, but Sam's actions were just pissing me off that Dean was just Sam now. Not on my destroy list or anything. For once Dean was actually on my good side. And why the fuck was I thinking of him? Sighing, I turned my head back toward Sam and Dean as they spoke with Sarah. Feeling my eyes on him, Dean turned his head toward me and stared at me for a second before smirking. My eyes narrowed and I stuck my tongue out at him before turning my attention back to Kiki, who was over her fuming but was still sulking. This was going to be a long case.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"What was the providence?"

"Provenance, Dean. There is a difference. A provenance is a significance of origin. Kind of like a biography." I gave Artemis a look as she spoke, causing her to merely shrug as she tossed her things onto one of the beds before I shook my head and turned my attention to my brother.

"We can use them to track the history of the pieces. See if anything has a freaky past," he said.

"So how do you suggest we get these provenances?" Kiki asked as she looked between the rest of us.

"Sarah," I replied as I gave my brother a look.

"Oh yeah. Maybe you can get her to write it all down on a cocktail napkin," he said with sarcasm, causing me to roll my eyes and give my brother another look.

"Not me," I said, causing my brother to shake his head as he realized what I was saying.

"No, no, no, no. Pick ups are your thing, Dean," he said.

"Hey. It wasn't my ass she was checking out," I said.

"In other words, you want me to use her to get information. Am I right?" he asked. I was about to reply when a door slammed shut, causing me to look over in the direction of the bathroom. Artemis merely rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath before walking toward the bathroom to try and coax Kiki out since she had seemingly locked herself in there.

"Looks like someone isn't over you," I said, causing Sam to roll his eyes.

"She'll get over it. And I'm not using Sarah," he said, causing me to roll my eyes this time.

"Sometimes you just have to take one for the team. Call her," I said, pulling out my cell phone and tossing it to my brother. About an hour or so later, I found myself flipping through the channels on the television while Artemis sat on the end of the bed drawing and Kiki was still locked in the bathroom taking a bath, I think.

"I can't believe you actually encouraged Sam to go date that bitch." Muting the television, I let my eyes move over toward Artemis as she looked at me with a glare.

"Artemis, they are done. Kiki and Sam are not getting back together. Stop acting like Sam is committing a crime," I said, causing me to turn back toward the television. However, her pencil hit me in the side of the head, causing me to toss the remote down on the bed and sit up so I was looking at her.

"What is your problem, Artemis?" I asked.

"I'm not trying to get them back together, Dean. That's the furthest from my mind. But you know that it's wrong with what you're encouraging Sam to do just so short after they broke up. It's not even been 24 hours yet and you're already sending him out on a date," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"To get information," I said, causing her to scoff.

"I saw the way that bitch was looking at Sam. Like he was some kind of meat or something to just pick up. You don't know Sarah the way I do," she said.

"Artemis, I doubt it will go any further. I only tease him because he's not exactly girl friendly, except with the two of you. If anything, I'm hoping these two work things out. I don't like the atmosphere they're creating," I said.

"It's just like the atmosphere we create when we're arguing," she said, causing me to shake my head.

"We have our own style of arguing, Artemis. You know as well as I do that Sam is kicking himself right now for dumping Kiki. Although he won't show it, you know he is kicking himself. And Kiki is more like you than she knows it. She's a stubborn bitch," I said, causing her to chuckle.

"She's stubborn in her own way. Especially when it comes to guys. She's so jealous and so scared when it comes to Sam," she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why?" I asked.

"I met Kiki about three years ago. Saved her and her family from some kind of demon or whatever that was harboring itself in their home. Kind of became friends since that day. She wasn't really keen on leaving her boyfriend because she loved him too much to do that, but she knew that in order to do what we do now, she would have to be gone several weeks at a time. Her boyfriend really didn't like that too much, but said that he would do what he could to support her with her traveling. Even volunteered to go with us, but I knew he would never understand what it was that we did. So, one day Kiki decided she was going to go talk to him and try to explain to him about the supernatural. I knew it was a bad idea to start with, but she didn't care. She went over there to talk to him. And um….she broke up with him that very day. Caught him in bed with another girl. She thought she could trust him, since they had been going out since they were about 16, but he threw it all away just because she was wanting to travel and not stay home to be a stay at home wife or girlfriend or whatever you call those women that stay home. Hasn't really trusted a guy since. Except for you and Sammy," she said, causing me to whistle lowly.

"Damn. Ouch. No wonder she's so paranoid and so mouthy when it comes to Sam. Especially with that girl Meg we met a few weeks back," I said, causing her to nod.

"She likes Sam. She really, really, really likes Sam. But the pain and agony she has suffered has become her downfall," she said.

"What about you?" I asked.

"What about me?" she asked as she gave me a confused look.

"What about you and guys? Ever have a boyfriend?" I asked, causing her to look at me for a second before nodding.

"When I was 15," she replied.

"What happened to him? Had to leave him behind to chase the supernatural?" I teased.

"He died a couple of months into the relationship," she replied, causing me to stop laughing and give her a shocked look.

"What?" I asked.

"Um….I met this guy named Jake when I was about 14 or so. This was after I had come back from England. He asked me out on my 15th birthday and we dated for about 5 months or so before he died. Um….I really don't know why he died. One minute we were saying "I love you" to one another and about an hour later he was dead. Doctors said that it was a diabetic shock that killed him since he was diabetic, but I really don't believe that," she replied.

"What do you believe?" I asked, causing her to sigh.

"I believe that it was something supernatural, like everyone else that has died in my life, that killed him," she replied.

"Like what?" I asked, causing her to shrug.

"Don't know. Wish I did know so I could know what I'm hunting for. I mean, the shtriga that killed my brother is dead and we're already on the hunt for the demon that killed my mother and your mother. Like you said before, it's one down and two to go," she replied.

"You said you were cursed. Think that might have something to do with it?" I asked, causing her to look at me before shrugging.

"Maybe. I don't know," she replied, causing me to give her a confused look.

"What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know what the fuck you're cursed from?" I asked, causing her to huff in annoyance and give me a glare.

"What is with you and your brother giving me the third degree?" she asked.

"Because we're suppose to. Especially me if you get annoyed. I know for a fact that you're hiding something about this curse, Artemis. Why the fuck are you giving us only bits and pieces of your life? Only filling in what is necessary and leaving the rest of us to figure out what is going on?" I asked.

"Because my life is my life, Dean. Nobody needs to know what is going on except for me," she replied, causing me to scoff.

"That's real nice, Summers. I'll remind you of that when you find yourself at a dead end," I said, causing her to give me a glare. I flipped her off and turned back toward the television. However, just as I went to put the volume, I found myself hitting the floor. Looking up, I saw Artemis looking down at me from the bed with a glare.

"You little bitch," I said before I flipped myself up and threw myself at her. She wasn't expecting it, which gave me the advantage of pinning her beneath me. Catching her mistake, she glared up at me as I smirked before bringing her knee up against my back. Hard.

"Ow! Damn you," I hissed as I ran a hand over my back while grasping her hands together with my other one.

"Get off of me," she snapped as she did everything she could to get me off of her. Obviously it wasn't working, causing her to give up after just a few minutes of seeing that I was not going to budge.

"You know something? You're really getting on my nerves, Summers," I said as her eyes narrowed into dangerous icy slits.

"My life is my own private business, Dean. Just because I refuse to share all the details with you shouldn't set you off into such a fucking bad mood. If I fuck up my life, then that's on me. Not you," she snapped.

"Do you even give a fuck that you have people that care about you? Care enough to help you out with what's happening to you?" I asked.

"I don't give a bloody fuck, Dean! Everyone that gets close to me dies! Why the bloody fuck do you think I stay clear of Kiki and Sam when they bring up anything about my family? My friends? Do you think I enjoy being cold and heartless?" she asked as she stared up at me, the ice in her eyes slowly melting as tears began to form.

"Artemis…."

"Just get off of me!" she screamed, causing me to become so startled that I tumbled off the bed just as Sam swung the motel door open and Kiki swung the bathroom door open as if something was happening or something. They both looked at between me and Artemis for a few seconds before Artemis bolted off the bed and locked herself in the bathroom.

"What the hell was that all about? What were you trying to do to her, Dean?" Kiki asked, rounding on me as Sam helped me off the ground.

"Me? What was I trying to do? I was doing nothing but asking her questions. I hate when the two of you gang up on me," I replied as Sam tossed some papers down on the table and gave me a questionable look. I shook my head and turned to Kiki, who gave me a glare before walking over to the bathroom and disappearing inside.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked as I grabbed the weapons bag and opened it before sitting down on the bed and taking out some knives that needed to be sharpened.

"Artemis being Artemis," I replied.

"Yeah, but she's acting….oh I don't know. Like she's broken. Again," he said as he gave me a look.

"She acts broken all the time. That's just the type of person Artemis is," I said, causing him to roll his eyes as he grabbed the papers and sat down with them.

"I got them," he said.

"So she just handed the providences over to you?" I asked.

"Provenances, Dean. We went back to her place and I got a copy of the papers," he said with annoyance as he shifted through them to see if there was something freaky going on.

"And?" I asked.

"And nothing. I got these and left," he replied.

"That's it? You didn't have to con her or do special favors or anything?" I asked.

"Dean, would you get your mind out of the gutter, please? I've just broken up with Kiki and having your mind in the gutter is just not helping the situation," he replied as he gave me a look of annoyance.

"That's hard for him to do, Sam, and you know it." I looked up as Kiki came from the bathroom and sat down on the chair across from Sam before taking some of the papers and sifting through it.

"How's Artemis doing?" he asked, changing the subject before I could make a retort.

"She'll be out in a minute. She's really upset. What did you do, Dean?" she asked as she gave me a look.

"Why the fuck do you two always think I'm the cause of her being upset?" I asked as I gave them both a glare.

"Because every time you two are together and she has a melt down, it's because of you. We're not exactly that stupid when it comes to watching and observing the two of you when you're together," she replied, shaking her head as Sam nodded in agreement.

"Well I'm glad to see that the two of you are on the same page," I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Dean, Sam and I are over. I will never forgive Sam for what he did and that's that. So what is going on with the provenances?" she asked as she gave Sam a look. He stared back for a second before shaking his head and shifting through the papers again.

"I think I've got something," he replied.

"What do you have?" I asked as I got up and walked over to him, causing him to hand me the papers.

"Portrait of Isaiah Merchant's family. Painted in 1910," I read.

"Now compare the names of the owners with dad's journal," he said, causing me to sit down at the table and look between the papers and our dad's journal.

"First purchased in 1912 to Peter Sims. He was found murdered in 1912. Same thing in 1945 and the same thing…."

"In 1970." I jumped slightly and turned my head to see Artemis standing behind me and reading over my shoulder. She gave me a look before sitting between me and Sam as she grabbed the papers from my hands.

"Exactly. It's been in storage until it was donated to a charity last month where the Telescas bought it. What do you guys think? It's haunted or cursed?" Sam asked.

"Either way, it's toast," I said as the two girls nodded.

**Artemis's POV**

"So let's get to it," Sam said as the four of us got up and headed out to the Impala. Throwing my jacket on as I went to get inside, I felt someone place their hand on my shoulder and I turned around to see Sam looking at me in concern.

"Are you ok?" he asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. I'm kind of getting use to the idea of being broken all the time," I replied, causing him to chuckle.

"Artemis, you're not broken. You're just acting like a human being," he said.

"I guess so. Sam, I don't hate you," I said, causing him to give me a confused look.

"What?" he asked.

"I don't hate you. I hate what you've done to Kiki, but I don't hate you. I could never hate you. If I did, Kiki and I wouldn't still be here. But even if I wanted to leave, I don't think I could. I know I can't handle what's happening to me on my own. I need you and I need Dean. I can't do it without either of you. Although I think Dean's the world's biggest fucking prick alive," I said, shaking my head as he chuckled.

"We'll fix you, Artemis, if you think you're that broken. And I agree. My brother can be such a prick sometimes," he said, causing me to crack a smile before giving him a hug and getting into the back of the Impala with Kiki.

"What was that all about?" she asked as she gave me a look.

"Sam making sure that I'm not broken," I replied before looking up and caught Dean's eye in the rearview mirror. I stuck my tongue out at him and his eyes narrowed. Sam caught the gestures and rolled his eyes as Dean started up the Impala and headed toward the auction house. About twenty minutes later, I found myself scaling the large iron gate in front of the auction house and jumping down into Sam's waiting arms. Setting me straight, we hurried after Dean and Kiki as they went toward the door while Sam and I worked the alarm system. Getting it disabled, we gave the go-ahead to Dean and Kiki. Picking the locks on the door, the four of us quickly hurried into the place and began searching for the painting.

"How hard is it to find a fucking piece of artwork?" Kiki asked as she flashed her flashlight ahead.

"Not that hard. There," I replied as I gestured toward the top of the stairs where I saw the painting. Keeping the flashlight pointed upwards, Dean and Sam quickly took it down and cut it out before hurrying back down to us.

"Let's go burn this thing," Dean said as we made our way out of the auction house and back to the Impala. About ten minutes later, I found myself on some deserted road as Dean lit a match to toss on the painting.

"Ugly ass thing. If you ask me, we're definitely doing the art world a favor," he said, shaking his head before tossing the match onto the painting and watching it set on fire. Thank god that this was the end of this adventure. Too much problems if you asked me.

* * *

"We've got a problem. I can't find my wallet.

"How's that our problem?"

"Because I think I dropped it in the warehouse last night."

"Dean! Tell us you're kidding!" I flipped my sketch book closed and gave Dean a look as he came out of the bathroom and put on his jean jacket.

"It's got my prints, my id,….well my fake id, but we got to find it before someone else finds it. Come on," he said before he took off out the door. Sam and I looked at one another before quickly following behind him, Kiki staying behind because she had a slight headache. Getting into the Impala, Dean headed for the auction house where we proceeded to look for his wallet.

"I can't believe you, Dean. I can't believe you would lose your wallet. Especially in a place like this," I hissed as I made way up and down the aisles of things.

"I agree with her, Dean. How do you lose your wallet?" Sam asked. Dean was just about to answer when we heard a voice.

"Hey guys." Turning around, I saw Sarah staring at us with a look of confusion. I think.

"Sarah? Hey," Sam said, causing me to roll my eyes at his antics.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked as she walked toward us.

"We're leaving town and we…uh….have come to say good-bye," he replied.

"What are you talking about, Sam? We're sticking around for at least another day or two. Oh and by the way, let me go ahead and give you the 20 bucks I owe you. There you go. Now we'll just leave you two crazy kids alone. Come on, princess," Dean said, handing 20 from his wallet, which surprisingly he had on him, before grabbing me by the arm and pulling me out of the auction house.

"I can't believe you," I hissed as I pulled away from him and gave him a glare.

"What?" he asked as he gave me a look.

"Dean, do you only care about your brother? Do you not care for Kiki's feelings or whatever?" I asked.

"Artemis……"

"Dean, Kiki is really upset over this whole break-up thing. I told you this yesterday or whatever. Yes she has to move on, but you're not making it any easier on her or Sam," I said as I shook my head.

"Artemis…."

"Artemis! Dean! We've got a problem!" We turned around quickly as Sam hurried toward us with a look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The painting. It's there," he replied, causing Dean and I to look at one another in confusion and shock before looking back over at Sam.

"What?" Dean asked.

"The painting is still there. It's like it regenerated itself. But I just don't understand. We burned the damn thing," he replied as we got into the car.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Uh….ok. We just need to figure out another way to get rid of it. Any ideas?" Dean asked as he looked between me and Sam. I shook my head and gave him a look that clearly said that I didn't know before looking over at Sam.

"Ok. Uh…in almost all the laws of paintings, it's always the painting's subject that haunts them," he replied.

"Uh….yeah. So I guess we have to find every thing we can on that creepy ass family in that creepy ass painting," Dean said as I nodded.

"Sounds like a job for Kiki," I said.

"Good idea. Artemis, get Kiki on the phone and the three of us will go to the library or something to check out Isaiah Merchant and his family," he said, causing me to pull out my phone as Dean started up the car and pulled away from the auction house.

"Hello?"

"Kiki, you need to get on your computer and pull up anything you can about Isaiah Merchant and his family. The boys and I are heading to the library to see if we can pull up local history on the guy and his family," I said, causing her to sigh.

"Let me guess. It was Sam's idea for me to do it since I'm not with you guys," she said.

"No. It was actually my idea. Just please do this. I'll call you if we find anything," I said before shutting my cell phone and getting out of the car as Dean pulled up to the library. Following the boys inside, I stopped for a split second to look at some of the books on the shelf before following Sam to where the librarian started setting things down on a table for us.

"You said the Isaiah Merchant family, right?" he asked as he looked at us.

"That's right," Sam replied with a nod.

"I dug up every scrap of the local history I could find. So, uh….you boys and young lady crime buffs or something along those lines?" he asked as he looked between the three of us.

"Kind of. Yeah. Why do you ask?" Dean asked.

"Well….."

"Sounds about right," I said as I stared at the heading the librarian was pointing at with the newspaper he held up in his hands.

"The whole family was killed?" Sam asked.

"It says that Isaiah first slit his kids' throats, then his wife, and finally, himself. Now, he was a barber by trade and used a straight razor to do the job," the librarian said.

"Why'd he do it?" I asked.

"People who knew him say that Isaiah had a stern and harsh temper. Controlled his family with an iron-fist. He had his wife, twos sons, an adopted daughter….Oh! There were rumors that the wife was going to take the kids and leave him, which in that day and age…."

"Wasn't allowed," I finished for him.

"Exactly. So old man Isaiah gave them all a shave," he said as he made a motion with his fingers across his throat.

"Does it say what happened to the bodies?" Dean asked.

"Nothing, except that they were all cremated," he replied as he opened one of the books he had in his hands and showed us a picture of the family. The exact same one we had burned the night prior.

"Can we get a copy of this?" Sam asked.

"Sure," the librarian said with a nod as he walked away from us with the book.

"Why do we want a picture of that fucking bloody picture, Sam? Don't we all have that etched in our minds enough as it is?" I asked with a whisper as Dean too gave his brother a strange look.

"I'll explain it back at the hotel. Thank you so much. Come on," he said, taking the photo copied picture from the library and motioning for us to follow him out. It took us about twenty minutes or so to get back to the motel, where Kiki was sitting at the table waiting for us.

"Ok. So obviously you found something. What's with the photo copy of that creepy picture?" she asked as Sam sat down at the table across from her.

"The picture keeps changing," he replied as he passed it along to her.

"Are you sure?" I asked, sitting on the bed and looking at him as Dean sat beside me.

"I'm sure of it. In the painting at the auction house, the dad is looking down. In the painting here, the dad's looking out. The painting was changed," he replied with a nod.

"So you think daddy dearest is trapped in the painting and that he's handing out Columbian neckties like he did with his family?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. It seems like it," he replied.

"But if his bones are already bloody dusted, then how the fuck do we stop him?" I asked.

"Alright. Well if Isaiah's positions change, then maybe some other things in the painting changed as well. It could give us a clue," Dean replied.

"Like a DaVinci code deal or something?" Kiki asked.

"Haven't got a clue about that. But we have to get back inside to get that painting. Which is a good thing because you can get more time to spend with your girlfriend," he replied, causing Kiki to give both brothers a look before getting up and walking over to the bathroom. I sighed when I heard the lock click into place before turning to look at Sam.

"Dude, enough," he said as he gave his brother a look.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Ever since Kiki and I broke up and we got here, you've been trying to pimp me out to Sarah. Just back off, all right? You keep this up and I'm never going to have Kiki be comfortable around me again. And Artemis won't stop hating me because you keep doing this," he replied, causing me to sigh.

"I told you I don't hate you, Sam. I don't like what you're doing to Kiki, but I don't hate you. Please stop saying that," I said as I shook my head.

"Artemis…."

"Sam, you don't understand how much Kiki is kicking herself for this whole break up thing. I mean, I know you have to move on if you don't have feelings for Kiki anymore, but you don't know the half of it with her. Sam, shortly before she left with me three years ago, she found her boyfriend, the one guy she thought she was so in love with, in bed with another woman. Tore her to pieces," I said, causing him to give me a look.

"What?" he asked.

"She doesn't like people knowing, but she knows it tears her relationships apart. She only had one other guy besides you in the last three years and that didn't last more than a week because she was so confused and so paranoid that he was going to leave her, which he did. Sam, I know you care about Kiki, but you and your brother have to stop what you're doing when you're in front of her," I replied.

"Artemis…."

"Shut up, Dean. She's right. Kiki's really uncomfortable with the whole situation and it's not helping the atmosphere," he said as he gave his brother a look.

"Sam, you two are over. She's just going to have to get over it," Dean said as he shook his head.

"But I'm not sure that I want to, Dean," he said, causing both of us to look at one another before looking over at Sam.

"What?" I asked.

"I like Sarah, but I don't know. She's just not Kiki," he replied, causing me to sigh and fall backwards across Dean's legs since he was stretched out on the bed.

"You and me both," Dean said as he shook his head at me.

"Whatever you two," Sam said as he pulled out his cell phone and called up Sarah. I sighed and let my eyes fall shut as I listened to Sam start to gab on the phone. I was actually starting to become comfortable when I heard panic come into Sam's voice.

"Who did you sell it to?" he asked as I opened my eyes and sat up. Kiki, hearing the panic as well, opened up the bathroom door and stepped out as Sam gave us a look.

"I need an address right now," he said, causing me to swear as I looked back at Dean. He gave me a look and we knew we were in trouble with that painting.

* * *

"Sam, what is going on?"

"I told you that you shouldn't of come." I rolled my eyes as I got out of the Impala and quickly followed Dean up the steps of this woman's house that apparently had taken the painting with her. Or bought it. Or whatever. And I guess Sarah was kind of curious or whatever as to what was going on with her friend or whatever you wanted to call her within the relationship she had with Sarah.

"You said that Evelyn might be in trouble. What kind of trouble?" she asked as Dean studied the door.

"I can't break this sucker down. I'm going to have to pick it," he replied as I searched my pockets and pulled out a pick-lock or something and handed it to Dean.

"What are you guys? Burglars?" she asked.

"Not exactly," Kiki replied.

"You should really wait in the car, Sarah," Sam said as Dean got the door unlocked and walked inside, the rest of us, including Sarah, following him. Looking around, I saw that nothing was out of order or whatever as we headed into what I think was the living room or sitting room. Whichever you wanted to call it.

"Evelyn?" Sarah asked as she approached the woman I saw, which I figured was her friend Evelyn, sitting in a chair.

"Sarah, don't," Dean said as she reached out to touch the woman's shoulder. But it was too late for his warning as she did so and the lady's neck tilts back, showing that it had indeed been slit. I let out a shriek and turned around from the sight as Dean wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Guys, the picture has changed," Kiki said as Dean looked in the direction of the painting before he and Sam guided us out of the house. Several hours later, Sam, Dean, Kiki and myself found ourselves back in the hotel room discussing the painting and what we had found with the lady.

"It's really ridiculous. We have to find some way to get rid of that painting. I really don't want to find another person with their throats slashed," I said. Sam was about to say something when there came a knock at the door. Giving us a confused look, he opened the door and I raised an eyebrow in surprise as Sarah came into the room.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"No I'm not. I just lied to the police. I said that I went to Evelyn's alone and found her like that," she replied.

"Thank you," he said.

"Don't even start. I'm about to call them right back if you don't tell me what the hell is going on. Who is killing these people?" she asked. Sam gave her a look before looking over at the three of us, causing the three of us to look at one another before shrugging and looking back at him.

"What," he said as he looked back at Sarah.

"What?" she asked as she gave him a confused look.

"It's not who. It's "what" is killing those people. Sarah, you saw that painting move," he replied.

"No. No, I was seeing things. It's impossible," she said with a scoff.

"Yeah, well welcome to our world," Kiki said.

"Sarah, I know this sounds crazy, but we think that the painting is haunted," Sam said.

"You're joking, right?" she asked as she gave him a look.

"Sarah, in all the time that you and your father have known my family, this is the one time that I'm not being sarcastic or rude with you about something. We're being dead serious," I said as she looked over at me where I sat with Dean looking on the computer. She stared at me for a good while before speaking.

"Ok. You're not joking. God. The guys that I go out with," she said as she shook her head.

"Welcome to our world," Kiki said as I nodded in agreement.

"Sarah, think about it. Evelyn, the Telescas, and everyone else that has had that painting. Where ever this thing goes, people die. And the four of us are just trying to stop it. That's the truth," Sam said.

"Then I guess you best show me. I'm coming with you," she said as she started to head for the door.

"What?" I asked as I gave her a look.

"No. Sarah, no. You should just go home. This stuff can get dangerous. And I don't want you to get hurt," he said as he walked toward her. I could sense Kiki getting a little bit uncomfortable with what was going on, but I kept my focus on Sam and Sarah as they talked.

"Look. You guys are probably crazy, but if you are right about this, well me and my dad have sold that painting and we might have gotten these people killed. I'm not saying that I'm not scared because I am scared to hell, but I'm not going to run and hide either. So are we going or what?" she asked before she walked out the door.

"Sam, marry that girl," Dean said, causing me to smack him in the head as I gestured for him to grab his jacket. He gave me a glare and I merely rolled my eyes before following Sam out the door and to the Impala. God I hated this case.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Uh….isn't this a crime scene?"

"You've already lied to the cops. That's another infraction." I gave Artemis a look as she smirked before shaking my head and slicing the "Do not cross" sign on the door as Sam picked the lock to let us in. Heading into the living room, Sam took the painting down off the wall and set it on the floor as I took out the photo copy of the painting out of my pocket.

"Aren't you worried that it's going to kill us?" Sarah asked.

"No. It seems to do its thing at night. I think we're alright in the day light," Sam replied as I looked between the paper and the painting.

"Hey Sam. Check it out. The razor is closed in this one but it's open in the painting," I said as Artemis peered over my arm and checked both pictures to be sure.

"What are you guys looking for?" Sarah asked as Sam took the picture from me.

"Well the spirit's changing aspects, but it might be doing so for a reason," Artemis replied.

"Hey. Look at this. The painting in the painting," Sam said, causing Artemis and I look at the picture within the picture that Sam had been pointing to. It had also been changed.

"It looks like a crypt or a mausoleum or something. I think it reads Merchant," Kiki said, causing Artemis and I to look at one another.

"Graveyard," we said as we headed back out the door. About an hour later, we headed into what I think was our third or fourth graveyard.

"It's the third bone yard we've checked. I think this ghost is jerking us the fuck around," I said as Artemis grunted in response.

"So this is what you guys do for a living?" Sarah asked.

"Not exactly," Sam replied.

"Yeah. We don't get paid for our work," Artemis added.

"I knew you were a little strange, but this is twice the strangeness I had imagined or thought," she said as she gave Artemis a look. Artemis merely rolled her eyes and shook her head in annoyance.

"Found it! Over there!" We turned in the direction of Kiki's voice as she pointed toward the crypt or mausoleum that was a few feet away from it. Pulling a pair of bolt cutters out, I snapped the chain and pulled the door open. Stepping inside, I noted that we were indeed in the right place.

"Ok. That right there is the creepiest thing I have ever seen," Sarah said as she looked at the things behind the glass windows.

"It was sort of a tradition at the time. Whenever a child died, sometimes they would preserve the child's favorite toy in a glass case and put it next to their headstone or crypt," Sam said as I looked around the crypt. Noting something strange, I gave Artemis a look as she turned around from looking at the glass cases.

"What?" she asked.

"Notice anything strange here?" I asked, causing everyone to look over at me.

"Uh…Where do I start?" Sarah asked.

"No. That's not what I meant. Where are all the urns?" I asked, causing Artemis to scan the shelves and then look at me.

"There are only four," she said, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. Mom and the three kids. Daddy dearest isn't here," I said.

"So where is he then?" Kiki asked as we all looked at one another.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"What do you think they're talking about over there?"

"I don't know. Why are you so interested? You two broke up and his life is no longer your concern, except when we're hunting or whatever."

"Artemis…."

"Kiki, you both are kicking yourselves in the ass for this. But whatever. It's your fight with him. Not mine. I've got my own battles with Dean," I said as I sat on the front of the Impala, outside of the police station or where ever it was Dean was getting records from, talking to Kiki while Sam sat talking with Sarah nearby.

"When are you ever going to admit you like him?" she asked, causing me to scoff and shake my head.

"And like I said before. Not going to happen. Dean and I too much different and we fight all the time," I replied, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Just part of a healthy relationship. Although I would definitely be worried with you and Dean if the two of you just didn't fight. And yes you are. You two are so similar that it's not even funny," she said.

"Whatever. I see Dean. Come on," I said as I spotted Dean coming out of the building and heading straight for Sam and Sarah and hopped off the Impala to walk toward them.

"So what did you get?" Sam asked as we reached them.

"Pay dirt. Apparently the surviving relatives of the Merchant family was so ashamed by Isaiah that they didn't want him to be with the rest of the family. So, they handed him over to the county and the county gave him a copper's funeral economy style. Turns out he wasn't cremated. He was buried in a pine box," Dean replied.

"So there are bones to burn?" Kiki asked.

"There are bones to burn," he replied with a nod.

"Please tell me you know where," I said, causing him to nod. A couple of hours later, I found myself helping Dean and Sam dig up the grave of Isaiah Merchant while Sarah and Kiki stood outside the grave and shown flashlights down into it so we could see what we were doing.

"You guys seem uncomfortably comfortable with this," Sarah said as Kiki snorted with laughter.

"Well this isn't the first grave we've dug. Still think he's a catch?" I asked with sarcasm as I pointed to Sam, who gave me a glare as he got out of the grave to stand by the two girls. I merely stuck my tongue out at him before returning to dig. However, I struck something and looked over at Dean as he heard it too.

"Think we have something," he said as he busted open the coffin to reveal a boned body. Grasping Sam's arm that he offered, he pulled me out of the grave as Dean got himself out before we began to salt and pour gasoline over the body.

"Well you've been a real pain in the ass, Isaiah. Good riddance," Dean said before he tossed a match onto the grave and watched as it lit up in flames.

"We have to get rid of that portrait or something," I said as the flames died down and we started walking back to the Impala. He gave me a nod and we headed back toward Evelyn's where the portrait was still waiting for us.

"Keep the motor running," Sam said as he got out of the car, Kiki following.

"I thought you said the painting was harmless now," Sarah said as she gave us all confused looks.

"Better safe than sorry. We're going to bury the sucker," Kiki said.

"I'm coming with you," she said, getting out of the car as well, causing Dean and I to give each other looks as the three of them started to head toward the house.

"So how do you think this whole thing is going to end? Kiki and Sam just stay friends while Sam gets a kiss from Sarah? Or Kiki and Sam get back together?" I asked as I crawled into the front of the Impala and gave Dean a look.

"The fuck if I know. I mean, I have no idea anymore. It seems to be weighing in both directions," he replied, causing me to chuckle.

"Kiki is really kicking herself in the ass," I said.

"I bet. By the way Sam and Sarah were talking earlier, he was kicking himself about the whole thing as well," he said, causing me to nod.

"I can't believe we have actually been civil with one another throughout this whole thing," I said, shaking my head as he laughed.

"I can't believe it either. I figured we'd be worse than Sam and Kiki since the whole make-out thing or whatever," he said, shaking his head this time.

"Well if it's any consultation to you, you're not a bad kisser. At least from what I can remember from that night," I said with a smirk, causing him to give me a look.

"Did you just still my line?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes. I was about to say something when I heard some kind of eerie laughing and the sound of the front door slamming shut. Peering past Dean, I saw that the front door had indeed shut, causing Dean and I to quickly get out of the car and head for the house.

"Kiki!" I yelled as I pounded on the door. I heard her yelling on the other side as well as Sam and knew I wasn't going to get anything out of Dean and myself yelling as well as Sam and Kiki. Taking out my cell phone, I quickly dialed Kiki's number and listened to her phone ring.

"What the bloody fuck is going on?" I asked the second she picked up.

"It's the little girl," she replied.

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I went around to the window and rapped my knuckles against it, although I knew it wasn't going to do any good with the bars around them to start off with.

"The dad was trying to warn us. The little girl is out of the painting and is somewhere in the house, Artemis. She's been the one killing all these people. Isaiah only took the wrath for it and was trying to warn us about her," she replied.

"So how the bloody fuck do we get rid of her then? She was cremated," I said, quickly following Dean back to the Impala when I noticed him start to hurry away from the house.

"Sarah says that sometimes the old china dolls were made in the replication of the child. They used real hair or other things sometimes," she said as Dean tore through the town toward the graveyard.

"The mausoleum," I said as I hung up and gave Dean a look.

"Human remains," he said with a nod as he busted through the gate of the graveyard, screeching to a halt outside the mausoleum. Quickly bringing out the gun from my jeans, Dena kicked in the door and slammed his fist against the glass. Knowing it wasn't going to break that easily, I cocked my gun and fired two shots, the glass breaking easily as Dean brought the doll out.

"Where's your lighter?" he asked as he quickly searched his jacket for his. Giving him a dirty look for being so slow, I took the doll from him and lit up my lighter before holding the doll's hair to it. Letting it catch on fire, I tossed it to the ground and watched as the doll completely caught on fire.

"Think it worked?" I asked as I gave Dean a look.

"Well, think about it this way. If they're dead by the time we get back, then we know it didn't work," he replied, causing me to give him a look before punching him in the arm as he started to laugh.

"Come on, princess. Let's go get them before they start anymore trouble," he said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the crypt, me shaking my head the entire time at Dean's stupidity.

* * *

"You so totally owe me a beer!"

"I do not owe you a beer. You're seeing things."

"I am not blind, Dean! Ugh! I hate you sometimes!"

"Love you too, princess." I gave Dean a glare and threw one of my pencils at him as I sat on the back of the Impala drawing in my sketch book. Kiki was sitting in the back with the door open as she read a magazine and Sam was talking to Sarah before we headed back out on the road.

"One of these days you're going to hurt one of us with these things. Let me see," he said as he tossed my pencil back and snatched up my book.

"Give it back, Dean," I said as he flipped through it. He ignored me and flipped through a few more before handing it back to me.

"I think you should maybe draw them larger and then sell them. Could make more money for being on the road. Oh wait. You're rich. You don't need the money," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I already told you, Dean, that me being rich will change nothing about me and Kiki helping out with food and the motels. Although I could use another outfit," I said.

"Why? So you can annoy the fuck out of me with the outfit being sexy as hell?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes again.

"Dean…."

"I can't help that I notice you have a great body. If you didn't want me to notice, you wouldn't wear those outfits for me to make comments about. Which by the way…."

"Don't even finish that sentence," I said, straightening out my low cut shirt as I got off the back of the Impala, ignoring the smirk that grew on his face. He was about to say something when Sam came toward us with a chuckle.

"At it again I see," he said, causing both Dean and I to roll our eyes.

"So?" Dean asked.

"So what?" he asked.

"What about the girl?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Well, I have her phone number in case I want to see her again, but…."

"But what?" I asked.

"But she's not Kiki," he replied, causing Kiki to look up from her magazine to us. But it didn't last long as Sam pulled her up into a kiss, causing my jaw to drop in surprise and Dean to just chuckle.

"I'm assuming you guys are going to be getting back together?" I asked.

"I realized I liked Sarah, but she was just no Kiki. And Sarah understood that. I think," he replied, causing me to shake my head and throw open the other door of the Impala.

"Come on, you love birds. We've got another case to solve probably," I said.

"Hey princess. Get in the front. I really don't need to watch my brother be all love sick from the front seat," Dean said, causing Kiki to smack him in the back of the head as I shook my head and got into the front. Dean started up the car and pulled out of the auction house parking lot as I looked in the rearview mirror to see Kiki snuggling up to Sam with a laugh and a smile.

"I guess we're back to just us fighting?" I asked as I looked over at Dean.

"Thank god. Those two were driving me insane," he replied.

"But you were trying to get him and Sarah together," I said.

"Yeah. So what? My brother should date rather than be such a grouchy pants," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"You're impossible, you know that? You're such a bloody prick," I said.

"And you're what? An angel?" he asked with sarcasm.

"Compared to you? Yes," I replied as Kiki and Sam groaned.

"Will you two just get along?" they asked, causing the both of us to give them glares before looking back at each other. There was a slight moment of silence before the both of us just chewed into each other. Sam and Kiki just groaned and completely ignored us as they leaned back into the seats and began to drift off to sleep. Smacking Dean in the arm for a comment he made, I curled myself up in the seat and gave him a glare, which was returned with a smirk. Rolling my eyes, I let my vision shift out the window as I thought about everything that had been happening in the last couple of days. The threads that were holding us all together were coming apart just slightly, but each adventure and case only made us stronger. I just hoped that my life wouldn't just come crashing down with everything that was to come. I just hope it wouldn't.


	12. Chapter 11: Dead Man's Blood

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Dead Man's Blood**

"Is this really a breakfast meal?"

"It's a healthy breakfast meal, Dean. Not like that greasy stuff sitting on your plate there."

"Yeah, but it's good and it's flavorful."

"Granola is good and flavorful too."

"Whatever you say. Just have a bit." I gave Dean a glare as he held a fork full of eggs and sausage toward me. We were sitting in a small diner somewhere in Nebraska eating breakfast as we looked for something new to hunt down. So far we really didn't have anything.

"No. It's really greasy. And probably unhealthy," I said as I shook my head before putting a spoonful of granola into my mouth.

"One bite is not going to hurt you. Come on," Dean said as Kiki chuckled and Sam shook his head at our antics.

"Only if you make a deal," I said, causing him to raise an eyebrow. When it came to me, he was always up for a challenge. I really don't know why, but I guess it was for entertainment or something.

"What's the deal?" he asked as he shoved what he had been trying to feed me into his mouth. I gave him a look of disgust before shaking my head and giving him a look.

"If I have to take a bite of that, you have to have some of this. It's a fair trade," I replied, causing him to give me a look of disgust as he gave a shudder at the thought.

"You know you're evil, right?" he asked, causing me to shrug.

"You eat it or no deal," I replied, causing him to roll his eyes before nodding.

"Fine. But you're first. Open up," he said as he forked up some more eggs and sausage.

"Why do I have to go first?" I asked.

"Because I said so. Now eat up," he said, causing me to give him a dirty look before taking the food into my mouth with a grimance. It really didn't taste as bad as I thought it would, but it was still terrible with all the grease I could taste alongside it.

"See. Not bad at all. Now let's get this over with," he said, causing me to roll my eyes before giving him some of the granola. He sat chewing it for a minute before giving a shrug and going back to his own breakfast.

"It's not that bad. But it's still horrible because it's healthy," he said, causing me to roll my eyes yet again before going back to my own breakfast and looking over at Kiki, who was giving me a look of confusion.

"What?" I asked.

"Is there something you'd like to share with Sam and I?" she asked, causing me to give her a look before looking over at Dean. He merely gave me a shrug and began to flip through the newspaper.

"Not really. Why?" I asked as I turned back to my best friend.

"Because the two of you just fed each other. Is something going on?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"No. And so what? I eat off of Sam's fork when he's trying to get me to eat something new. It's not like we're dating or anything," I replied, causing her to shake her head.

"You're something else, Artemis. You really are," she said, causing me to roll my eyes before turning my attention over to the newspaper that Dean was shifting through. Nothing really seemed to catch my eye, so I assumed it would probably be an easy day or something along those lines.

"Alright dude. Not a decent lead since all of Nebraska. What do you got?" he asked, looking over at Sam as Sam surfed through the internet on his laptop.

"Well, I've been skimming Wyoming, Colorado, and South Dakota. Nothing really is there. Wait. Here. A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived," Sam replied as he looked up at us.

"That sounds more like it's incredible than twilight zone. Hey. We can just keep it at an ease," he said.

"Like that's going to happen," I said with a snort of laughter.

"Artemis is right. That's never going to happen with us. So in the meantime, we've got a lot of work to do, Dean, and you know that," Sam said, causing Dean to look between the three of us before sighing.

"Yeah, you're right. What else do you got?" he asked.

"Uh….Manning, Colorado. Local man by the name of Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home," Sam replied.

"Elkins? I know that name," he said as he pulled his dad's journal out of his bag and started to leaf through it.

"Doesn't ring a bell for Artemis and I," Kiki said as I nodded in agreement. I had never heard that name before, so it was a big mystery to me.

"Doesn't ring a bell for me either. Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first they said it was some kind of bear attack and now they've found signs of robbery," Sam said as he continued reading to us.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I looked over at Dean.

"Check it out," he replied as he flipped the journal over so that Sam could see where he was pointing to. He was pointing to a name, D. Elkins, in the phone section of his dad's journal.

"You think it's the same Elkins?" Sam asked.

"It's a Colorado area code," he replied.

"So what do we do? Should we go check it out?" Kiki asked.

"Might as well. Sounds right up our alley. Let's go, princess," Dean said as he tossed me my jacket and stood up. I gave him a glare but merely tossed on my jacket and followed him out. This sounded like it was going to be another great escapade, sarcasm dripping through every word of that sentence.

* * *

"This is fucking creepy. Why the bloody fuck do we always get stuck checking out the creepy places?"

"It just comes with the job. Stop whining." I smacked Dean against the head, causing him to give me a glare as Sam picked the lock and swung the door open. I stuck my tongue out at him before stepping inside and swinging my flashlight around the cabin, the mess immediately jumping out at me.

"Looks like the maid didn't come today."

"You think?" I asked as I joined Dean in one of the room's he had stepped into and surveyed the mess before us.

"Hey. There's salt over here. Right inside the door," I heard Sam say.

"You mean like "protection against demons" salt or "oops I stilled the popcorn" salt?" Dean asked.

"It's clearly a ring," Kiki replied as she and Sam joined us in the room.

"You think this guy Elkins was a player?" Sam asked as I made my further into the room while Dean started leafing through a book of some sort.

"That looks a hell of a lot like your dad's," Kiki said.

"Yeah. Except this dates back to the '60s," Dean said as we made our way through the rest of the house. Walking into another room, I winced as I felt some small pieces of glass fall into my hair, causing me to look up to see the busted sky window.

"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there were more than one," Sam said as he observed the window as well.

"Looks like he put up a bloody hell of a fight too," I said, tearing my eyes away from the window and to the rest of the room as Sam nodded in complete agreement. Flashing my light around and carefully stepping through the room, I discovered a box on the floor that seemed like a gun was in it or something. Gesturing toward Dean, I showed him what I had found, causing him to look carefully around the area I was kneeling in and knelt down not far from me.

"You got something?" Kiki asked as she noticed his actions.

"I don't know. There are some scratches on the floor," he replied as he grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and stuck it down on the floor.

"Death throlls maybe?" Sam asked.

"Maybe. Or maybe a message. Look familiar?" he asked as he held up the paper to his brother, causing Sam to take it and look at it in interest as Kiki peered over his arm to get a look at it too.

"Three letters and six digits. The location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop," Sam replied as he looked at us.

"It's just the way dad does it. Come on," Dean said as he headed for the door. About a half hour later, Kiki was typing away on her laptop while I leaned over the front seat and looked at the letter Sam and Dean had retrieved from the mail box indicated by the message we had picked up from the cabin.

"J.W.. You think? John Winchester?" Sam asked as he looked at Dean.

"I don't know. Should we open it?" Dean asked, causing me to shrug. Sam was about to say something when I jumped slightly out of my skin at the knocking on the driver's window, causing the four of us to turn and look at the man standing outside the Impala.

"Dad?" Dean asked as the guy got into the car and I turned my head just slightly to see that it was in fact John Winchester once again.

"Dad, what are you doing here? You alright?" Sam asked as I moved out of Sam's vision so that he could see his dad properly.

"Yeah. I'm ok. Look, I read the news about Daniel. I got here as fast as I could. I saw the four of you up at his place," he replied.

"Why didn't you come in, dad?" Sam asked.

"You know why. Because I had to make sure you weren't followed by anyone or anything. Nice job of covering your tracks, by the way," he replied, causing me to snort with laughter as Kiki shook her head.

"Yeah, well we learned from the best," Dean said, ignoring the two of us as he looked back at his dad.

"Wait. You came all the way out here for this Elkins guy?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. He was a good man. He taught me a hell of a lot about hunting," John replied.

"You never mentioned him to us," he said as Dean nodded.

"We had a…kind of a falling out. I hadn't seen him in years. I should look at that," John said as he motioned to the letter in Dean's hand. He handed it over to his father and John skimmed it over before swearing.

"What?" Sam asked.

"When you searched the place, did you see a gun? An antique? A colt revolver? Did you see it?" he asked.

"There was an old case that I saw that looked like it could of held a gun, but it was completely empty," I replied.

"Damn it," he said, shaking his head.

"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean asked.

"We got to pick up their trail," he replied as he got out of the car.

"Wait. You want us to come with you?" Sam asked, causing John to stop and lean in the driver's window.

"If Elkins was telling the truth, we've got to find this gun," he replied.

"The gun? Why?" Kiki asked as we gave each other looks before looking back at John.

"Because it's important. That's why," he replied, causing my eyes to narrow at his tone of voice. Who the bloody hell did he think he was talking to? His kids?

"Dad, we don't even know what these things are yet," Sam said.

"They're what Daniel Elkins killed best. Vampires," he said, causing Dean and I to look at each other in confusion. Vampires?

"Vampires? I thought there was no such thing," Dean said as I nodded in agreement. I knew that vampires were not real, but after everything we had been through, I was open to new ideas as of right now.

"You never mentioned them, dad," Sam said.

"I thought they were extinct. I thought Elkins and others had wiped them out," John said.

"Well you obviously thought wrong. Look at what we do for bloody fucking christ," I said, causing Dean to turn to look at me with a glare.

"Artemis, shut up," he said.

"Fuck off," I said, eyes narrowing into a glare as well.

"Enough you two. Most vampire lore is shit. A cross won't propel them and sunlight won't kill them. And neither will a stake to the heart. But the blood lust? That part is true. They need fresh human blood to survive. They were once people, so you won't know it's a vampire until it's too late," John said.

"So what do we do?" Kiki asked.

"We pick up their trail," he replied before he went back to his truck. Looking at each other, the four of us didn't know what to do. I could tell that this was going to be a long fucking case. Or something like that.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Sam, Dean, let's go. Wake the girls. Picked up a police call." I gave a groan as I felt a slap to my foot and opened my eyes to see my dad grabbing his coat.

"What happened?" Sam asked as he sat up with a yawn.

"Couple called 9-1-1. Found a body in the street. Cops got there and everyone was missing. It's the vampires," he replied as he headed for the door.

"Ugh…How do you know?" Sam asked.

"Just follow me, ok? Dean, get her up," he replied, pointing to a still sleeping Artemis before he left the motel room, Sam and Kiki grudgingly following behind. I sighed as I sat up and ran a hand over my face before looking over at Artemis. She was out for the count as she lay stretch out on her stomach beside me sleeping.

"Vampires. Heh. Gets funnier every time I hear it. Come on, princess. We've got to work," I said as I shook her slightly. She gave a groan and let her eyes flicker open before looking at me tiredly.

"Say what?" she asked.

"Dad's got a trail. Come on," I replied as I got up and offered her my hand. She gave me a look before sighing and allowing me to help her up. Putting on her converses and grabbing her jacket, she followed me out to the car where Sam and Kiki were waiting for us. We threw ourselves into the car and I began to follow my dad to the place where the couple had disappeared. About twenty minutes later, we found ourselves leaning against the Impala as our dad gave us orders to stay put while he went to talk to the cops.

"I don't see why we couldn't of gone over with him," Sam said, causing me to sigh and give him a look.

"Oh no. Don't tell me it's already starting," I said, causing him to give me a look.

"What's starting?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes before I noticed that dad was starting to head back toward us.

"What do you got?" I asked.

"It was them alright. I think they're heading west. We're going to have to double back to get around the detour," dad replied.

"How can you be so sure?" Sam asked.

"Sam," I warned, causing my brother to roll his eyes before looking back at our dad.

"I just want to know we're going in the right direction," he said.

"We are," dad said.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I found this," dad replied as he handed something to me, causing Artemis to peer over my arm to take a look as well.

"It's a vampire fang," she said as she gave our dad a look.

"Not a fang. Teeth. The second set descends when they attack. Any more questions? Good. Let's get going. We're losing daylight. And Dean? Why don't you touch up your car before it gets rust. I wouldn't of given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to ruin it," he said as he headed back toward his truck. The girls and Sam gave me a look of bewilderment, causing me to merely shrug and get into the passenger side of the car. Sam starting up the car and following our dad, I pulled out some papers and began to look through them, Artemis peering over my shoulder to take a look as well.

"Vampires nest been 8 and 10. Smaller packs are sent out to hunt for food. They take their victims to the nest where they keep them alive, bleeding them for days or weeks," I said as I read off one paper.

"9-1-1 couple maybe?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"Maybe," I replied.

"Probably what dad is thinking. Of course it would be nice if he just told us what he thinks," Sam said, causing me to look over at him and scoff.

"So it is starting," I said, causing him to give me a look.

"What?" he asked.

"Sam, we've been looking for dad all year. Now we're not with him for more than a couple of hours and there's static starting already?" I asked.

"No. Look, I'm happy he's ok. Alright? And I'm happy we're working together. It's just the way he treats us as if we're children. He barks orders at us, Dean, and he expects us to follow them without question. He keeps us on some shit "need to know" deal," he replied.

"He does what he does for a reason," I said.

"What reason?" he asked.

"Our jobs. There is no time to argue. There is no margin for error. It's just the way the old man runs things," I replied, shaking my head.

"Yeah, well maybe that worked when we were kids, but not anymore. Alright? Not after everything the four of us, especially me and you, have been through, Dean. I mean, are you telling me you're cool with just falling into line and letting him run the whole show?" he asked. I stared at him for a second before answering.

"If that's what it takes," I said with a nod.

"Not me. Forget it. Your father doesn't tell us what to do," Artemis said, causing me to look back at her and Kiki.

"Artemis…."

"Artemis is right, Dean. You may follow orders from your father, but not us. We're not his kids," Kiki said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"Whatever you say," I said before turning back to the papers at hand. A while later, my cell phone began to ring, causing me to pick up.

"Yeah dad?" I asked.

"I want you guys to pull off at the next exit. I think I've got the vampires' trail," he replied.

"Alright. Got it. Pull off at the next exit," I said to Sam as I shut my cell phone and put it back in my pocket.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because dad thinks we got the vampires' trail," I replied.

"How?" he asked.

"I don't know. He didn't say," I replied, causing him to give me a look before I felt the car start to rev up and begin to speed up, passing dad's truck in the process before pulling to a stop in front of it and getting out.

"Oh shit. Here we go. Sam!" I yelled as I got out of the car, Artemis and Kiki following.

"What the hell is that?" dad asked.

"We need to talk," Sam replied.

"About what?" he asked.

"About everything. Where are we going, dad? What's the big deal about this gun?" Sam asked.

"Sammy, come on. We can do this later after we kill all the vampires," I said as I tried to keep them from fighting, although I knew it was going to be a losing cause.

"Your brother is right. We don't have time for this," dad said.

"Last time we saw you, you said it was too dangerous to be together. Now, out of the blue, you need our help. Now something big is obviously going down and we want to know what," he said.

"Get back in the car," dad said.

"No," he said.

"I said get back in the damn car," dad said once again.

"Yeah. And I said no," he said as he set forward toward dad, causing Artemis to step between them and push Sam slightly back.

"Alright Sam. Artemis has go the right idea. You've made your point, tough guy. Look, we're all tired and we can talk about this later. Girls, get back in the car. Sammy, come on," I said as I made my way toward the passenger side of the Impala.

"This is why I left in the first place," Sam muttered, causing dad to stop and turn around to look at him.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"You heard me," Sam replied as he too turned around and walked back toward dad.

"Yeah. You left. Your brother and me needed you. You walked away, Sam. You walked away," he said.

"You were the one that said "don't come back," dad. You were the one that closed the door. Not me. You were just pissed off that you couldn't control me anymore," Sam snapped.

"Sam! Stop it!" Artemis exclaimed as she step between them again and shoved Sam backwards.

"She's right. Stop it. That's enough. It means you too," I said as I gave my dad a look. Both Sam and dad looked at me before stalking off to their respectful vehicles. I groaned as Artemis shook her head.

"My thoughts exactly. Terrific," I said, shaking my head as well before the both of us got into the car. I was beginning to think like Artemis with this case. This was going to be a fucking long ass case.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"Son of a bitch. So they're really not afraid of the sun?"

"They're just walking in the sunlight for the fucking fun of it. Geez Dean. Don't you learn anything?"

"Don't start you two." Dean and I threw a glare at Sam before glaring at each other. We had just spotted a vampire coming back to the nest and going inside as we watched from the bushes surrounding what I think was a barn.

"Sam's right. Don't start. And yes. Direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn. The only way to kill them is by beheading. And yeah. They sleep during the day, but that doesn't mean they won't wake up," John said as he gave us a look.

"So I guess walking right in is not our best option," Dean said.

"Actually, that's the plan," he said, causing me to give Dean a look before looking at his father crazily.

"What?" I asked.

"Artemis," Dean warned as we followed John back to the vehicles to load up. I gave him a glare as he opened up the trunk of the Impala, but kept my mouth shut as I put one of my guns on safety and stuck into the back of my jeans before cocking the other one and placing it on the inside of my jacket for now.

"So you boys really want to know about this colt?" John asked, causing the four of us to look over at him.

"You do know that we're not boys, right?" I asked, causing Dean to smack me in the head and me elbow him in the stomach before looking over at John.

"I see that," he replied, causing Sam to shake his head.

"Yes sir," Sam said as he answered his father's question. Looking around at the four of us, John sighed before speaking.

"It's just a story. A legend really. Well, I thought it was. Never really believe it until I read Daniel's letter. Back in 1835, when Haley's comet was over head and the same night those men died at the Alamo, they say Samuel Colt made a gun. A special guun. He made it for a hunter. A man like us, only on horseback. Story goes that he made 13 bullets. This hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. Still don't know how Daniel got his hands on it. They say that this gun can kill anything," he said.

"Kill anything like supernatural anything?" Dean asked.

"Like the demon," Sam said as he looked at his dad for the answer.

"Yeah. The demon. Ever since I picked up its trail, I've been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun…."

"And you kill the demon," I said as I cut John off.

"Yeah. Kill the demon. I want you boys to be careful. Look after the girls. Get out of there if there is the slightest trouble. Understand?" he asked as he looked around at all of us. Dean, Sam, and Kiki nodded, but I spoke up.

"You may be able to order your sons around, but Kiki and I are not your children. We don't follow orders from nobody. Especially me. So you can give your orders, but it doesn't mean I'm going to listen to you. I don't even listen to your prick of a son," I said as I cocked my gun again and giving him a dirty look before I made my way toward the barn. It wasn't even a minute before the four of them caught up to me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Dean hissed as he yanked me back by my waist as John hoisted himself up along the side of the barn and opened a window like thing.

"What do you care? I don't follow orders from anyone, Dean. And you know this," I snapped as I moved out of his grasp and hoisted myself up and into the barn. Looking around, I saw several hammocks that held some of the vampires as they slept. I made a face at Kiki as she did the same thing over one of the girls sleeping. She was dressed really slutty and gave us girls really bad names for dressing like that.

"Keep close," Sam whispered, causing me to give him a look before moving farther into the room. I noticed that John had disappeared, probably to see where the head vampire had it, and made my way toward a nearby corridor as the other three checked around the room. I knew I probably should of stayed with them, but I was too pissed off with everyone to even think clearly about what I was doing. I was just about to round the corner when I heard a screech coming from the room I had left and I whirled around quickly as John quickly made his way out of a room adjacent for me.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he spotted me. I was about to answer him when I heard the rustling of vampires near by and one of them emerge from the same room as John had earlier.

"Shit," I said as I backed away and made my way quickly down the hall opposite of the way John was going. I knew I was in trouble when I heard the leader shouting something and I could sense someone behind. However, I came to a dead end and quickly turned around to find another girl standing there with a smirk.

"Where do you think you're going, sweetie?" she asked as she stalked toward me.

"Out of here and far away from you," I replied as I drew my gun.

"You really think that it's going to harm me?" she asked with a chuckle.

"I'm not really that stupid," I said before I aimed at the ceiling and shot the light down, causing the vampire to duck as it came crashing down on her, giving me the chance to dash past her in hopes to get out of here alive. However, my luck was drawn short once again as I crashed right into someone, causing them to grasp a tight hold on me.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?." My head snapped up to the guy holding me and gulped back some fear as he smirked at me.

"It's just so sad that I have to have a pretty one like you not conscious," he said before slamming me against the wall hard. The last thing I saw was him smirking at me before everything went dark.

**Dean's POV**

"Well that was a bust."

"Yeah. But we're missing dad and Artemis. Dad! Artemis!" I yelled as I turned around in the bushes and realized that my father and Artemis were not with Sam, Kiki, and I. Artemis had seemingly wandered off by herself as did my dad, and I was really worried when neither of them followed behind us. I was about to head back when I saw my dad's figure quickly making his way toward us, making me give a sigh of relief.

"Where's Artemis?" Kiki asked, causing me to realize that Artemis was indeed not with him.

"I saw her and she went in the opposite direction that I had been going in," he replied, causing me to give him a look.

"What? She's still in there?" I asked.

"Dean, we can't do anything about it right now. We have to get out of here," Sam replied as he stopped me from going back toward the barn.

"She could die, Sam," I said.

"I doubt it. They'll keep her alive. But you're brother is right. We need to get out of here. They won't follow though. They'll wait until tonight. Once a vampire has your scent, it's for life," dad said.

"Well what the hell do we do know?" I asked.

"We've got to find the nearest funeral home, that's what," he replied, causing me to nod as I realized what he wanted me to get. Several hours later, I walked back into the motel room with Kiki after having been at the funeral home with a bunch of dead guys.

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah. Man there's heavy security protecting a bunch of dead guys," I replied as I placed a bottle filled with liquid in front of my dad before looking at him.

"You know what to do," he said as I gave him a nod. If it meant getting Artemis back, I would do anything at this point.

* * *

"Car trouble?" I looked up slightly as I saw a female, no doubt one of the vampires that had been at the barn earlier, approach me.

"Let me give you a lift. Take you back to my place," she said as she tried flirting with me, which I must say was rather bad for any type of girl I had ever been in contact with. That included Artemis, although her flirting skills were not exactly there. I don't think.

"Nah. I'll pass. I usually draw the line at necrophilia," I said with a cocky smirk forming on my lips. She gave me a look and a slight nod before smacking me quite hard against the face, causing me to fall to the ground. She grabbed my face with one of her hands and hauled me up so that I was eye level with her.

"I don't normally get this friendly until the second date, but heh," I said with a slightly chuckle despite the slight pain I was in.

"You know something? We could have some fun. I always like to make new friends, especially the girl you left behind for us to have fun with," she said before she kissed me. I really wanted to gag because I was really not feeling this, but I merely gave her a look as she pulled back.

"Hmph. Sorry. I don't normally stay with a chick that long. Definitely not for eternity," I said before slightly moving as I heard an arrow whiz through the air and the girl to look at me before she moved back away from me, her friend falling to his knees as another air whizzed through the air.

"Damn it," she said as she looked toward Sam, Kiki, and dad coming out from the wooded area surrounding us. She gave them a cocky smirk as she looked down at the arrow and then back up at us.

"Barely even stings," she said.

"Give it time, sweetheart. The arrow is soaked in dead man's blood. It's like a poison to you, isn't it?" dad asked as the smirk dropped from her face. She swayed just slightly before passing out, causing me to catch her as she fell.

"Load her up. We'll take care of this one," dad said, causing me to nod and drag her toward dad's truck. I tossed her inside before heading for the Impala and following my dad toward an area he deemed for us to do what we needed to do before we raided the vampires' nest. Tying her to a nearby tree, I helped Sam and Kiki start a fire before going back toward my dad as he brought out a bag of stuff for us to use.

"Toss this on the fire. Sapphrane, skunk cabbage, and trilium will block our scent and hers until we're ready," he said as he handed me some stuff to put on the fire.

"This stuff stinks," I said as I gagged slightly before starting to throw it into the fire.

"Well that's the idea. Dust your clothes with the ashes, you'll stand a change of not being detected," he said.

"You sure they'll come after her?" Kiki asked.

"Yeah. Vampires mate for life. She means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is going to wear off soon, so you don't have a lot of time," he replied as I looked over to the girl and knew what my dad was talking about just by looking at her.

"Half an hour should do it," Sam said.

"Then I want you out of the area as fast as you can," he said, causing the three of us to look at him in surprise.

"But…."

"Dad, you can't take care of them all by yourself," I said as I cut my brother off.

"I'll have her. And the colt. Artemis will probably need tending to, so you've got to worry about her," he said, causing me to sigh. I knew he was right about Artemis. I had been worrying about her since she was captured by the vampires earlier in the day, which was surprising and confusing to me since I really didn't care about what Artemis did, but I was worried for her safety and well-being. Especially with everything that had been going on with her. I guess she had grown on me. Or something. But I also knew that my dad doing this by himself was a big mistake.

"But after, we're going to meet up, right? We're going to use the gun together, right?" Sam asked as he brought me out of my thoughts. I looked to my dad for an answer and was kind of confused when he didn't answer.

"You're leaving again, aren't you? You still want to go after the demon alone. You know something? I don't get you. You can't treat us like this," he said.

"Like what?" dad asked.

"Like children," he replied.

"You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe," dad said, causing me to scoff and finally speak up.

"Dad, with all due respect, it's a bunch of shit," I said, causing him to look at me.

"Excuse me?" he asked as if he didn't hear me right.

"You know what Sammy, the girls, and I have been hunting. Thought you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. But you can't be that worried about keeping us safe," I replied.

"It's not the same thing, Dean," he said.

"Like hell it is," Kiki said.

"Kiki's right. Like hell it is. What is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?" I asked.

"This demon? It's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves with me worrying about keeping you alive," he replied, causing me to scoff.

"You mean you can't be as reckless," I said.

"Look, I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death? It almost killed me. I can't watch my children die too. I won't," he said.

"What happens when you die? Dad, what happens if you die? We could have done something about it. You know I've been thinking. I think Sammy might be right about this. I think we should do this together. With the girls. You know how Artemis got the last time we thought we had the demon. She has just as much right as you do to this fight. We're stronger together as one. We just are. You know it," I said, causing him to give the three of us a look before sighing.

"We're running out of time. You do your job and you get out of the area. Artemis is more important to you at the moment, Dean, and you know it. That's an order," he said, causing me to scoff but nod my head as I realized that he was right to a certain extent. We couldn't just abandoned Artemis like this.

"Dean…"

"He's right, Sammy. Artemis is more important at the moment and I'm not going to let the poor girl suffer anymore than what those damn bastards have put her through. Get in the car," I said as dusted my jacket and such with the ashes of the fire before heading toward the Impala. I knew Sam and Kiki were not sure of what was going on, but they didn't argue with me and followed my example. It was quiet for a while as I tore down the street toward the vampire nest, but Kiki broke it a short while into.

"Dean, what is wrong with you?" she asked, causing me to look in the rearview mirror at her as she gave me a look.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You're being very protective of Artemis. You'd rather go after Artemis than help your father out," she replied.

"Would you rather me leave her to suffer at the hands of those bastards and have her die?" I asked.

"No, but this is not like you at all, Dean," she replied.

"Kiki's right. You're acting strange," Sam said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Nothing is going on. Sam, you're just as protective of Artemis as I am. So shut up," I said as I shut the car off and got out, grabbing the machete in the back of the trunk before heading quietly toward the barn. Making my way into the place, I saw one of the vampires that had been left behind to man the nest get up as if he heard something. Looking around, I watched as he walked near the entrance of the door, which had blown slightly open and then shut. Quietly making my way up behind him, I watched carefully as he took a swig of the alcohol he was carrying before turning around. He gave a surprised look as I smirked.

"Boo," I said before swinging the machete and watching his head fly across the room. Staring at it for a slight second, I made my way further into the barn to the crate of people I had seen earlier that were still alive. Sam and Kiki were searching the place more while I rescued these people by braking off the plate holding the gate shut.

"I told you I would be back," I said as I successfully swung the door open.

"Dean!" I whirled around at Sam's shout and gave him a questionable look as he hurried into the room.

"Artemis isn't here," he said, causing me to give him a look.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

"She's not in any of the rooms and there's nobody else here," he replied.

"Then where the hell is she?" I asked before I realized those sons of bitches took her with them when they probably took off after dad. This was not going to go well at all.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"Come on, princess. Rise and shine. Don't want you missing all the fun."

"Dean?"

"Sorry, princess. I'm not your lover." I groaned as I shifted my eyes open to see the leader of the vampires staring at me with a smirk before giving an order to someone. Feeling movement around me, I realized that I was in a car or something flying down the road. Shifting myself slightly, I winced as the throbbing in my head pounded against my skull hard from where this idiot had slammed me into the wall.

"Come on. We're going to have a little fun," he said as I felt the vehicle come to a stop and the two of them get out. I yelped slightly as he forcefully dragged me out of the and into the road where two more of the vampires stood waiting. What in hell were they waiting for? My answer came when I winced at the bright lights that were sudden shown upon us as another vehicle came to a stop right in front of us.

"Get out!" the leader said as I heard the vehicle shut off and a door open. Looking up, despite the pain in my head and the slight blurriness I was having even with my contacts in, I could make out John Winchester.

"Who are you?" the leader asked.

"Names Winchester," John replied.

"Where are your friends?" he asked.

"Cleaning out your nest," John replied.

"Where's Kate?" he asked.

"Come here, sweetheart," John said as he tugged on a rope in his hands that was inside the truck. I watched the facial expression of the leader change when John dragged his girlfriend, the same vampire chick I had first run into before being knocked unconscious by him, out of the truck and placed a knife at her neck.

"Kate, you alright?" he asked.

"Dead man's blood," she replied, causing the leader to frown.

"You son of a bitch," he said.

"I want the colt. Elkins gun. And the girl. Trade," John said.

"Is that what this is all about? I mean, you can't shoot us all, right? We'll kill you. As for the girl, who says I'm willing to give this pretty little thing up as well?" he asked, a smirk forming on his face despite the position his girlfriend was in.

"Oh I don't need it for you. I'm saving it for something else. As for the girl, there's not a damn thing you need with her. So put the colt down and send the girl my way or she goes first," John replied as he tightened his grip on Kate.

"Alright. Just don't hurt her," he said as he shoved me forward toward John. When we had taken a few steps, he placed the gun down onto the pavement and let go of me, but kept a hold of the back loop of my jeans as if to keep me from running, which is probably what he thought I was going to do once he let me go.

"Back up. Further," John said, causing the vampire to let go of the back of my jeans but grasp onto my hand as he moved his way back from the gun and from me. I so badly wanted to run for it, but I knew that it would result in chaos that I knew John just did not need at all. I watched as he slowly bent down to retrieve the colt, but my eyes shifted to the girl as I noticed her starting to move her hands and the bonds starting to become undone.

"It was a nice move. You almost made it," the leader said just as I yelled for him to watch out. I let out a shriek as the leader yanked me back and shoved me toward one of the other vampires, causing me to try and break myself away from him. I was expecting his teeth to sink into me, but I found myself being thrown to the pavement as I heard arrows whiz through the air and into the vampires. Looking up, I made out the figures of Sam, Dean, and Kiki coming up through the wooded area with bows and arrows and machetes and quickly got to my feet. However, I found myself being thrown back to the ground as the leader knocked Sam into me. I let out a shriek and a gasp as I felt myself being pulled up and against the leader.

"Don't. I'll break her neck," he said as he tightened his grip around my neck, causing me to gasp for air. I watched as Dean held a machete in his hand and was glaring at the leader as he held me against him.

"Put the blade down," he said, causing Dean to look between me and the leader.

"Dean, please," I gasped out as tears started to fall down my face. Dean gave me a look as I pleaded with him, causing him to slowly put the blade down.

"You people. Why can't you just leave us alone? We have just as much right to live as you do," he said, shaking his head.

"I don't think so." I let out a shriek as I heard a bullet go off and the leader let go of me, causing me to fall to the ground as he just stood there like nothing had happened. A familiar set of arms wrapped around my waist and tugged me up, causing me to turn and bury my face into Dean's chest as I heard Kate screaming for her boyfriend as he started to disintegrate from the bullet that John had shot in his head. Hearing a car start up and leave, screeching the tires as it did so, I let out a sob as I clung to Dean.

"It's alright. No more," he said as he held me tight against him, running a hand up and down my back in a soothing manner.

"She alright?" I heard Kiki asked, causing Dean to grunt in response before scooping me up in his arms and walking toward the Impala hidden in the wooded area. As he opened the door to put me inside, I whimpered and clutched tighter to his jacket, not wanting to let go for any reason.

"Artemis, it's alright. I'm not going anywhere," he said as I buried my face into the crook of his neck. I could hear Sam and Kiki coming up from behind, but I completely ignored them as I clung to Dean. I knew he was confused as to what was going on, which wasn't a surprise to me since sometimes he never knew what was going on with things, but he didn't say anything but keep that tight hold on me.

"Is she going to be ok?" Sam asked, causing Dean to nod.

"She'll be fine," he replied, although there was that uncertainty in his voice. The same uncertainty that was starting to run through my mind. I knew something was wrong with me and for the first time in the few months that we knew the guys, I needed Dean and Sam in my life. I needed Dean in my life and I didn't understand why or what I was feeling this way for. Something was wrong with me and I wasn't sure how to fix it.

* * *

"You know you two can help us, right?"

"Why would we want to help you pack up your bags for? You should of not thrown your shit everywhere and have to dig around for it when you know we have to be leaving."

"Hey Art. How about you take that fluffy pink bunny and stuff your mouth with it." I clutched Mr. Hoppy to my chest and gave Dean a glare as I sat on the bed watching him and Sam packing up their bags to leave. Kiki and I had already done ours and Dean was trying to coax us into helping him and Sam pack their bags.

"Watch it, Dean. She might attack you," Sam said with a chuckle, causing me to throw a pillow at him. He merely ducked it and continued packing his bag and having a conversation with Kiki. Looking back over at Dean, he sensed that I was looking at him and raised an eyebrow as he looked at me.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied, shaking my head.

"Well it has to be something. You never stare at me like that," he said, causing me to shrug.

"Were you really worried about me when I had been captured by those vampires?" I asked, causing him to raise that eyebrow again before shaking his head.

"That's what the look was about? Artemis, you know I worry about you, Kiki, and Sam all the same," he replied.

"But not like Sam and Kiki were saying. They said you were willing to overlook your dad for me. Is that true?" she asked, causing him to sigh and stop packing to look at me.

"I was worried, Artemis. You've grown on me just like Kiki has. It's like me worrying about Sam all the time. If something happens to you, I would never be able to forgive myself. You're not like other girls, Artemis," he said. I looked at him for a moment and was about to speak when I was interrupted by John walking into the room.

"So boys….."

"And girls," Kiki said.

"And girls. You ignored a direct order back there," he said as he looked around at all of us.

"Yes sir," Sam said.

"We saved your ass back there. Not to mention saving Artemis's life. Who knows what could of happened if we hadn't," Dean added, causing me to nod in agreement. I really didn't want to think about what could of happened if Dean hadn't come to my rescue.

"You're right," John said, causing the four of us to look at one another in surprise before looking back at him.

"I am?" Dean asked.

"It scares the hell out of me. You two are all I got. And the girls….well the girls are part of you boys and they're all you got besides me. But I guess we are stronger together. So, we go after this demon thing. Together," he replied, looking at each one of us before letting his eyes fall on me. I stared at him for a second before nodding my agreement.

"So let's get going," he said as Dean zipped up his bag and followed his dad out the motel door, Kiki following right behind. I stared after him for a second before looking over at Sam as Sam gave me a look.

"When are you just going to admit that you like him? I know Dean likes you. Even if he's not straight out saying it, his jokes and teases to you are perfectly clear. And I know you like him. You're heart knows it, but you're not allowing yourself to admit it," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"I can't," I said.

"You mean you won't. You won't admit it because you're too stubborn. Too proud and too ignorant to admit it," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Sam, even if I liked Dean, which I don't, I can't like him. Let alone love him," I said.

"Why not? It's not that hard to do once you say it," he said, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"No Sam. I can't love him even if I did like or love him. Everyone that I've loved has died on me," I said.

"So you have a string of bad luck with that. But those are not your fault," he said.

"Yes they are. They've died because of me," I said, causing him to look at me for a second before speaking.

"I don't understand," he said.

"Sam, everyone that I have ever loved since my father got married to my step-mother has died. My father died and the dog I had died and my last boyfriend died. Sam, they're all linked to one another and I'm at fault," I said.

"Artemis…."

"I can't love anyone or let anyone get close to me, Sam, because they will die if they do. It's because of the curse," I said, causing him to stop what he was doing completely and look at me in shock.

"What?" he asked.

"The curse kills loved ones, Sam," I said, causing him to just stare at me in shock. The big secret I had been carrying around with me all these years was finally out. Finally off my chest. The only thing is keeping it from everyone else. With Sam knowing, I wasn't so sure about that anymore. I was completely screwed.


	13. Chapter 12: Salvation

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Salvation**

"I'm tired as bloody hell. I just want to curl up and go to sleep."

"Can't do that, princess. We've got work to do."

"Fuck you, Dean."

"I'd love to, but you're just not a willing participant. And even if you were, I can't because we've got a job to do and we can't have you not being able to walk straight for about a week." I dropped my things on the floor next to one of the beds and hurled a pillow in Dean's direction, glaring at him as he dodged it with a smirk.

"Alright you two. That's enough. Everyone is just as tired as you are, but we've got to keep our minds focused," John said as he stepped between the two of us to keep anything from happening.

"Dad's right, Dean. Stop teasing Artemis and get your mind out of the gutter until after we've taken care of all of this," Sam said as I sat on the bed and watched John start to pull things out of his bag that presumably revolved around the demon.

"So this is it. This is everything I know," he said as we all took some of the papers and leafed through them.

"It seems like a pattern of some sort," I said as I looked up at him.

"Exactly. Look, our whole lives have been searching for this demon, right? Not a trace. Just nothing. Until about a year ago. For the first time, I picked up a trial," he said as he looked at his boys.

"That's when you took off," Dean said as John nodded.

"Yeah. That's right. The demon must of come out of hiding or hibernation," he said.

"Alright. So what's the trail that you found?" Dean asked.

"It starts in Arizona. Then New Jersey and California. Houses burned down to the ground. It's going after families. Just like it went after us," he replied.

"Families with infants?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. The night of the kid's sixth month birthday," he replied.

"I was six months old that night?" Sam asked, causing John to nod.

"Exactly six months," he replied.

"So basically this demon is going after these kids for some reason. Same way it came for me? So mom's death and Jessica's is all because of me?" Sam asked, causing me to sigh and stand up.

"Sam, we don't know that," I said.

"Oh really? Because I would say we're pretty damn sure," he snapped, causing Dean to shove him slightly back away from me as Sam made to step toward me.

"Don't you touch her. She's right though. What happened to them is not your fault," Dean said.

"Yeah, you're right. It's not my fault, but it's my problem," he snapped.

"No it's not your problem, Sam. It's our problem. Are you forgetting that your family is not the only one that is going through this at the moment?" I asked, my temper starting to flare. Dean sensed this and kept himself between the two of us in case something did happen. It was not often that Sam and I got into it like this, but I knew Dean wasn't going to take any chances at all.

"Alright! That's enough," John snapped, causing us to look over at him as he stood up.

"Why is it doing it? What does it want?" Sam asked, turning the conversation back to the problem at hand.

"Look, I wish I had more answers. I do. I've always been one step behind it. Look, I've never gotten there in time to save," he replied before silence rang out throughout the room.

"Alright. So where do we find it before it hits again?" Dean asked, finally breaking that silence as we looked over to John for the answers.

"There are signs. Look, it took me a while to notice a pattern, but days before these fires, signs crop up in an area. Cattle deaths, uh…temperature fluxuations, electrical storms, etc. And then I went back and checked," he replied.

"These things happened in Lawrence," Dean said, causing John to nod.

"Yeah. A week before your mother died. And in Apollo Alto before Jessica. And….."

"What about California?" I asked, causing him to look over at me.

"What?" he asked.

"You said that it started in Arizona and tracked to New Jersey and California. Was California just in the last year that you've been hunting it?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" he asked. I just gave him a look before going over toward my bags and beginning to look through them quickly. I knew they were all giving each other questionable looks, but I completely ignored them as I pulled a binder out from the bottom of one of my bags and started looking through it.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked as I tossed papers aside that didn't pertain to what I was looking for before finally finding what I needed and grabbed Kiki's laptop.

"I remember the wind being so bad the night my mother died. The worst I had seen in five years. It was pretty cold and nasty that day too. I want to see if your dad's patterns match against the records for my mother's death. Kiki, pull up anything you can right now about California almost 17 years ago," I replied as I handed the laptop to Kiki before turning to look at Dean.

"Artemis…."

"Dean, I was no more older than you were with the deaths of our mothers. I want to make sure that this is the bloody fucking demon that killed my mother. I trust what your dad is pointing out to us, but…."

"You want to be sure," he said, causing me to nod as I wiped at my eyes as tears started to form.

"What's with the papers?" Sam asked.

"Newspaper articles, family history, etc. Anything I could find that could help me solve this mystery that's been haunting me for nearly 17 years. Sam, Bryce was six months old the night my mother died. Just like you. I mean, I was fine up until your dad said that there was a pattern and the pattern has probably risen again somewhere. But now, I don't know," I replied.

"Wait. The same demon that killed their mom killed your mom?" I sighed as Kiki stopped what she was doing to look at me in shock.

"Kiki…."

"And you didn't tell me? Artemis, have you been hunting this thing too? Hunting this thing too in the last three years that I've been working with you?" she asked as she slowly stood up.

"Kiki….."

"You have, haven't you?" she asked, causing me to sigh but nod.

"Kiki, I didn't tell you because it's not your fight. It's….."

"It's very well is my fight, Artemis. Do you not remember what Sam told you about his last girlfriend? What happened to Jessica? She died the same way their mother died, Artemis. That kind of puts me on the next for Sam if something goes wrong. What were you thinking by not telling me? Am I the only one that doesn't know?" she asked as she looked at me and then at Sam and Dean. They merely stared back at her, causing her to scoff.

"I don't believe you, Artemis. How could you not tell me? I know all about the curse but you couldn't tell me this? Artemis!" she exclaimed as she gave me a dirty look.

"You don't know the entire story behind the curse, Kiki. You don't know half the bloody shit that's going on with me because I don't need anyone else knowing what is going on. I was trying to keep you safe, Kiki. Safe from the damage that can be done for what's happened to me and what could happen to be if the wrong thing is said or done," I snapped.

"Safe? It's like treating me like a child. I'm suppose to be your best friend. There is no secrets between us. At least there isn't suppose to be," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Kiki, you only know what I told you when I first met up with you," I said.

"So everything was a lie? You being in the hunt because you want to be? All of this is a lie?" she asked, causing me to shake my head.

"I told you what I thought you should know, Kiki. The only person that knows everything is….."

"Sam. Yeah we know. You tell Sam just about everything because Dean always manages to get you upset and Sam is like your comfort bubble where everything gets spilled. We know," she said as she rolled her eyes.

"Wrong. Way wrong. The only person that knows everything is not Sam. It's Athena," I snapped, causing Sam and Dean to throw confused looks my way.

"Who's Athena?" Sam asked.

"My partner prior to Kiki," I replied.

"You had a partner prior to me?" she asked, causing me to scoff as I gave her a look of disbelief.

"Do you honestly think I could have gotten anything done at 14 years old by myself? Athena's an old family friend who's about Dean's age, in which she pretty much looked after me for the four years before I met you. She is the only one and the only one who will ever know the entire truth to everything to my past," I replied.

"So how the fuck are we suppose to help you if we don't know?" Dean asked.

"You don't. The curse is my problem. Not yours," I replied, causing Sam to scoff.

"Like hell it is," he said, causing Dean to shove me back as I stepped toward Sam.

"You don't know it in it's entirety, Sam. There are pieces I left out," I snapped.

"How many secrets do you have, Artemis? How many are going to unravel as time goes on? Why can't you just be honest with us completely?" Dean asked as he rounded on me. I stared at him for a second before my eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

"I didn't ask for this to happen the way it has, Dean. I didn't ask for all of my problems to fall into your's and Sam's lap. I didn't ask to run into you guys, causing us to hunt with you. If I could have it my way, none of this would be happening right now. None of it. I would be at home in California with my family who hasn't died. I would be in school doing something other than hunting. But it doesn't work like that, Dean. And the only reason I'm like this is because of you and your brother. You're trying your hardest to break down the god damn bloody fucking wall I put up and you're causing all of these reactions to happen. It's you and your brother who is doing this. Causing this. I was just fine until Kiki and I ran into the two of you at the asylum," I snapped.

"Artemis….."

"I'm done! When this demon is found and killed, I'm done! I can't do this anymore! Kiki, you're on your own with the guys when this is over. Athena's right. I can't let anyone else die," I said before I stormed to the bathroom and locked the door behind me. Sliding to the floor with my back against the door, I put a hand over my mouth as I let out a sob. I couldn't help myself as everything seemed to come crashing down upon me. I didn't know what to do now. Everything was just spinning out of control.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"You would think it would be more of a sunny day or something going to this place."

"I doubt it. You heard our dad, Kiki." I let out a sigh as Kiki and Sam continued to engross themselves in their conversation about this demon or whatever the hell it was they were talking about as I followed my dad toward Salvation, Iowa, the demon's next stop. We were going to have to find some way to track down the next kid it was going after but I knew that was going to be hard.

"She hasn't stopped clutching the damn thing since we left the motel back in Colorado." I shifted my attention to the rearview mirror to Artemis as she lay her head back against the seat with her eyes closed and her ear pieces to her iPod in her ears. Her arms held her rabbit close to her chest and I nodded in agreement with Sam as he turned his attention to me.

"Dean, we have to help her. She can't do this by herself no matter what she says to us," he said, causing Kiki to scoff.

"Let her do what she wants, Sam. I can't believe you two still trust her," Kiki said, causing Sam to turn around to look at her.

"Kiki…."

"Don't start, Sam. I don't even know who my best friend is anymore," she said, causing me to look into the rearview mirror at Artemis, who stared back at me with those icy blue-green eyes of hers. They narrowed and I quickly put my eyes back to the road to avoid something starting. However, I saw my dad starting to pull off, causing Sam and I to exchange looks as we pulled off to.

"Damn it!" dad exclaimed as we got out.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Son of a bitch," he replied as if he didn't hear me the first time.

"What is it?" I asked again.

"I just got a call from Caleb," he replied.

"Is he ok?" I asked.

"He's fine. Jim Murphy is dead," he replied, causing Sam and I to look at one another in shock before looking back at our dad, ignoring the confused looks of the girls.

"Pastor Jim?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod.

"How?" I asked.

"Throat was slashed. He bled out. Caleb said they found traces of sulfur at Jim's place," he replied.

"The demon," Artemis said, causing me to look at her before looking back at my dad as I caught what she was trying to say.

"The demon?" I asked.

"I don't know. Could be he just got careless. He slipped up. Maybe the demon knows we're getting close," he replied.

"What do you want to do now?" I asked.

"Now we act like every second counts. There are two hospitals in the center of this town and a third a little further out. We split up and we cover more ground. I want records. I want a list of every infant that's going to be six months old in the next week," he replied.

"John, that could be dozens of kids. How the hell are we going to know which one of the right one?" Kiki asked.

"We'll check them all. That's how. You got any better ideas?" he asked as he looked between the four of us.

"No sir," Sam said before he and the girls got back into the Impala. I lingered for a second and watched as my dad seemed to be thinking or something.

"Dad, are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's Jim. You know, I can't…..This ends now. I'm ending it. I don't care what it takes," he replied before he got into his truck. I gave a sigh before getting into the car and following behind. A short while later, he took off in one direction and I dropped Sam and Kiki off at one of the hospitals, leaving me with Artemis as we headed toward one of the other ones.

"We're going to need every record they have on file of all infants going to be six months old in the next week just like your dad said. How the bloody fuck we're going to be able to figure out which one the demon is going after is like trying to find a bloody needle in a fucking haystack," she said as we headed inside of the hospital we arrived at.

"Well we're just going to have to try, Artemis," I said as we flashed our fake ids to the girl at the front desk.

"What can I help you with?" the girl asked.

"There's an epidemic going around in some of the other states that involves children turning six months old. We wish to see every file you have of any infant that will be six months old within the next week," I replied. The girl looked at us for a second before nodding and walking off. A few minutes later, she came back with a bunch of files and handed them to us before we gave her a nod of our head and walked toward a table in sight so they didn't think we were trying to steal them.

"So what do we look for?" Artemis asked as she began flipping through the files.

"Anything suspicious. Anything not normal about a child at birth," I replied, causing her to give me a look before grabbing her shoulder bag and sifting through it. I gave her a confused look, but she merely waved me off as she pulled out the binder she did earlier.

"What are you doing?" I asked as she pulled a bunch of papers out and quickly looked through them.

"Looking through my brother's medical record from the hospital he was born and died at. I was able to get a copy of it when I was 14 because of Athena," she replied.

"What do you need it for?" I asked.

"Because if there was something not normal in his file when he was born, maybe it could help us try and find this kid," she replied, causing me to look at her before finally nodding in understanding.

"Do you remember anything about your brother?" I asked, causing her to stop and look at me for a second before speaking.

"He never cried. Well, he did when he was hungry or something, but otherwise he never cried. He was always happy. And he always stared at you as if he knew something about you that you didn't. Like reading your soul or something. He could talk at an early stage and was always trying to mimic what I was doing until he could do it himself. It was like he taught himself how to do everything," she replied, causing me to chuckle.

"Sammy was kind of the same way," I said, causing her to chuckle as well.

"Yeah, well I guess I have a lot in common with your brother. Well, some things I…." But she stopped talking as she gave her head a slight shake.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I gave her a look of concern.

"Yeah. I just….ah," she replied as she placed her fingers on the bridge of her nose between her eyes and grimaced slightly.

"Artemis?" I asked. But she didn't answer me as her hands immediately went to her and a whimper escaped, causing me to immediately realize that Sam was having a vision of some sort and Artemis was getting the brunt of the pain. I could see some of the girls from behind the desk making their way toward us and I knew that we didn't the attention, but Artemis was not making it easy as she started to fall of her chair, causing me to catch her.

"Hey. Come on, princess. You're really starting to scare me," I said, holding tight to her as she let out a strangled cry. I knew that there was really nothing I could do until Sam stopped having the vision, but I was really starting to become worried when her eyes glazed over with ice as she stared at me. Never had I seen them this dark but icy. It was like something was beginning to possess her or something.

"Is she alright?" I looked up as one of the girls stepped toward us, causing me to give her a wave of my hand.

"She's fine. Just a strong headache. A cup of water will be just fine," I replied, causing her to nod and hurry off. Turning my attention back to Artemis, I saw that she was slightly bent back from me with her eyes closed, tears slowly trickling down them.

"Artemis?" I asked, causing her to slowly open her eyes and stare at me.

"I…I saw…saw it," she said as I slowly sat her up, her hands touching her temples lightly as I knew the headache and pain was still there but not as intense.

"What?" I asked as I looked at her in confusion.

"A woman. Up on the ceiling. Burning," she replied, causing my eyes to widen as I realized that she had a full blown vision. Probably the same one that Sam had seen as well.

"Come on. Let's get to the others. Thank you," I said as I gave a nod to the women returning to the desk before pulling Artemis up gently and led her out of the hospital to the car. If she had a vision, the same vision Sam probably had as well, maybe we would be able to get to the kid. If it was the family she did see.

* * *

"A vision?"

"Yes. I saw the demon burning a woman on the ceiling."

"I'll second it. I saw it too." Artemis gave me a grateful look as I handed her a glass of water and some Tylenol before going back over to the counter to pour myself a cup of coffee.

"And you think it's going to happen to this woman you met because?" dad asked as he gave Sam a look.

"Because these things happen exactly the way I see them," Sam replied.

"They started out as nightmares and then they started happening while he was awake. For some reason, every time Sam has one of these things, Artemis feels like her brain is being electrocuted. She feels pain when Sam is having these visions. I think she recently started sharing these visions with Sam though. Like they're connected or something," I said.

"Yeah. It's like the closer I get to anything involving the demon, the visions get worse," Sam added.

"And the pain," Artemis said as she gently rubbed her temples.

"Alright. When were you going to tell me about this?" dad asked as he looked over at me.

"We didn't know what it meant," I replied.

"Alright. Something like this starts happening to your brother, you pick up the phone and you call me," he said, causing me to slam down my cup and turn to look at him.

"Call you? Heh. You kidding me? Dad, I called you from Lawrence. Alright? Sam called you when I was dying. But getting you on the phone? I have a better chance of winning the lottery," I said, causing him to stare at me in disbelief for a second before speaking.

"You're right. Although I'm not too crazy about this new tone of yours, you're right," he said, causing me to look over at my brother with an amazed sort of look. That was a first.

"Look, guys, visions or no visions, the fact is that we know the demon is coming tonight. And this family is going to go through the same hell that we went through. The same hell Artemis went through," Sam said, causing my dad to stand and shake his head.

"No they're not. No one is. Ever again," he said, causing Sam, Kiki, Artemis, and myself to look at one another before looking back at my dad. Sam looked like he was going to say something, but stopped when the ringing of a phone started going off. We all looked at one another and then at Sam as he pulled out his cell phone and answered it.

"Hello?" he asked. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Artemis stood from the bed with a suspicious look as Sam questioned who the caller was. I really didn't like the look she had because when she had that look, it always meant that something was up.

"Meg," he said, causing both Artemis and Kiki's eyes, especially Kiki's, to narrow into dangerous slits. I was right along there with them as I knew nobody could figure out how she survived that swan dive seven stories back in Chicago.

"Last time I saw you, you fell out a window," he said.

"Something isn't right, Dean. She should have never survived that fall," Artemis said as she came and leaned against the counter with me.

"I know. I'm just as confused as you," I said.

"Just your feelings? That was a seven story drop," he said, causing us to look back toward Sam. Something wasn't right. Something just wasn't right.

"My dad? I don't know where my dad is," he said, causing Artemis and I to look at one another as if we were thinking the same thing. What did she want with dad? I turned my attention back to my dad as Sam handed him the phone.

"This is John…..I'm here…..Caleb? Caleb? You listen to me. These guys have nothing to do with anything. You let him go…..I don't know what you're talking about…..Caleb? Caleb? I'm going to kill you, you know that?….Ok…..I said ok. I'll bring you the Colt," he said, causing Artemis and I to exchange looks once again.

"The Colt? Dean, we need that," she hissed, causing me to hold a hand up as I understood but wanting to hear the rest of my dad's conversation.

"It's going to take me about a days drive to get there…..That's impossible. I can't get there in time and I can't just carry a gun on a plane," he said. We watched as he stood there for a second before he hung up and looked at the four of us.

"How the bloody fuck did she survive that bloody seven story drop?" Artemis asked, breaking the silence.

"You think Meg is a demon?" Sam asked as well.

"Either that or she's possessed by one. Doesn't really matter," dad replied.

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

"I'm going to Lincoln," he replied, causing us to look at him slightly crazily.

"What?" I asked.

"It doesn't seem like I have a choice. If I don't go, a lot of people die. Our friends die. Including the girls if you leave them alone. She's already made that very clear," he replied.

"Dad, the demon is coming tonight for Monica and her family. That gun is all we got. You can't just hand it over," Sam said.

"Who said anything about handing it over? Look, besides us and a couple of vampires, no one has really seen the gun. No one knows what it looks like," he said.

"So what? You just want to pick up a ringer at a pawn shop?" Artemis asked.

"Antique store," he replied.

"So you're going to hand Meg a fake gun and hope she doesn't notice?" I asked with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

"Look, as long as its close, she shouldn't be able to tell the difference," he replied.

"Oh yeah? For how long, John? What happens when she figures it out?" Kiki asked.

"I just….I just need to buy a few hours. That's all," he replied, causing Artemis to scoff and shake her head.

"You mean for Sam and Dean," she said, causing him to look at her. I watched the exchange between the two before looking over at Sam and seeing that he was thinking the same thing I was about what our dad planned to do.

"You want us to stay here and to kill this demon by ourselves," Sam said, causing dad to sigh.

"No, Sam. I want to stop losing the people we love. I want you to go to school. I want Dean to have a home. I'm pretty sure the girls want a normal life. I want Mary alive. It's just….I just want this to be over," he said as I could hear his voice starting to break. Sensing a shift of movement from Artemis, I looked down at her and I could tell there were wheels turning in her head before she spoke.

"Dean, you're going to need to go to a pawn shop or something and get a gun. We're not going to get anywhere arguing with your dad and you know it. You know we're going to have to do this ourselves," she said before she headed for the bathroom and I heard the lock click.

"Dean, we have to do something. She's mad at us, but she's not letting it interfere with what's going on. But she's also breaking. Dean, this is too much for her," Sam said.

"Your brother is right, Dean. It might be a good idea to leave her here," dad said, causing me to shake my head.

"I can't and I won't. She deserves to be in this fight just as much as we do," I said.

"Dean, she's tearing herself apart," Kiki said.

"And this is coming from the supposed best friend. Well you know what? You can think all you want because I'm not going to take her out of something that she has more right to than you do, Kiki. This thing tore her family apart. It tore our family apart. I'm not leaving her out of it. And if I have to pick up the fucking pieces at the end, I will pick up those pieces and put her back together," I said. My dad stared at me for a second but merely shook his head.

"Drag the girl out of the bathroom and let's get to it," he said, causing me to nod.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"Did you get it?" I looked up from loading my guns as Dean pulled up and got out of the Impala to hand his dad a bag. Inside it I knew was a gun that was similar to that of the Colt and it was only confirmed when John pulled an antique looking gun out of the bag.

"You know this is a trap, right? That's why Meg wants you to come alone?" Dean asked as he looked at his dad.

"I can handle her. I got a whole arsenal loaded, holy water….."

"Dad?" Dean asked, cutting him off.

"What?" he asked.

"Promise me something," Dean replied.

"What's that?" he asked.

"If this thing goes south, get the hell out. Don't get yourself killed, alright? You're no good to us dead," Dean replied, causing his dad to study him for a second before nodding.

"Same goes for you," he said as we all nodded. I cocked my guns into safety and placed one into the bag of my jeans and the other into my jacket before looking around at everyone as John spoke again.

"Alright. Listen to me. All of you. They made the bullets special for this Colt. Only four of them left. Without them, this gun is useless. You make every shot count," he said as he handed Dean the gun.

"Yes sir," Sam said with a nod.

"I've been waiting a long time for this fight. And now it's here and I'm not going to be in it. It's up to you boys and you young ladies now. It's your fight. You finish this. You finish what I started. You understand?" he asked, causing us to nod.

"We'll see you soon, dad," Sam said.

"I'll see you later," he said with a nod before he walked toward his truck while Sam and Kiki walked toward the Impala.

"Later." I looked up at Dean as he watched his dad's truck tear out of the empty lot we were in and to the road.

"He'll be ok, Dean," I said, causing him to look at me.

"Artemis…"

"Dean, I gave up hope a long time ago with my family. It's been several years and I still don't have any hope of ending what's happened to me and my family. I mean, sure we killed the thing that killed my baby brother, but my mom? And my dad? I haven't any hope, Dean. I know you think that this is wrong with your dad, but you have to have hope that he's going to be ok. That you'll see him again. If you don't, then your just going to be like me. And I really don't think you can afford that with Sammy," I said. He studied me for a second before speaking.

"There's always hope for you, Artemis. You just have to believe it yourself," he said before he walked toward the Impala. Looking after him, I sighed as I stared across the lot, letting the cool weather whip across my face. I had really lost all hope with everything. It looked like I was ready to kill this demon, but I knew deep down that I wasn't. No matter if I had given up hope or not.

"You coming or what, princess?" I turned at the sound of Dean's voice and looked at him as he gave me a look of concern. I turned back to the empty lot before quickly making my way to the Impala and getting in.

"One of these days I'm just going to leave you in the middle of nowhere and not think anything of it," he said, causing me to smack him in the head and roll my eyes before I pulled my iPod out of my pocket.

"Artemis," Kiki said, causing me to give her a look before placing my ear pieces into my ears and turning my iPod on. Knowing she was in completely frustration because I was ignoring her, I chuckled slightly and turned the volume up full blast to keep them blocked out. However, I felt my ear pieces being yanked out of my ear, causing me to turn to Kiki with a glare.

"What the bloody fuck do you think you're doing?" I asked as she tossed my iPod to Sam and looked at me.

"We need to talk and I won't have you ignoring me this entire time," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I don't have anything to say to you, Kiki," I said.

"Then listen. Artemis, I am sorry for getting upset with you, but you have to understand what it is for like me. What it's like for me not to know what my best friend is up to. Especially when it's something as dangerous as this. Artemis, you're dragging yourself into the depths of hell doing all of this. Everything you've been carrying with you, all these lies and all these secrets, has caught up to you and you're breaking. You're finally breaking that cold exterior you have had since the day I met you. Artemis, you can't do this alone anymore. You have to come clean," she said, causing me to stare out the window for a second longer before turning my gaze to you.

"You want the truth? You want the truth? Fine. I've been hunting this demon since I was 14 years old. I've been hunting the shtriga since I was 14. And I've been hunting for a cure for this curse I've been under since I was 8. We killed the demon that killed my brother. We're going to kill that demon that killed my mother when I was 5. That's two down and one more to go. And guess what? You can't help me. Nobody can," I snapped, causing Sam to quickly turn around and glare at me.

"That's not true, Artemis, and you fucking know it. There is always a cure for a curse. You just have to be willing to look hard enough. But you won't. You told me you weren't sure if you wanted to even continue looking for a cure. You're willing to go your entire life not letting anyone get close to you. They can only get so close before you push them away. They can love you all they want but you can't love them. Artemis, you're going to dig yourself further into the depths of hell before you realize what we're trying to do for you," he said, causing me to shake my head as I tried hard not to cry.

"My father died because of me, Sam. My last boyfriend died because of me. My step-mother is laughing her bloody fucking ass off in her grave right now because she knows she still has that hold on me. These people are dying because of me, Sam. What do you want me to do? It'll be years before I can find a cure," I snapped, causing Dean to stop the car and turn around to look at me.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he asked.

"Nothing. Forget it. Look, when this demon is killed, I'm gone. I'll catch a bus or a plane or something back to California. Back to Los Angeles. I'm done with this gig the second that bullet kills the demon. Athena was right. I'm not going to let anyone else die because of me," I replied as I shook my head.

"Artemis…."

"No! I'm done. No more hunting after this," I said, grabbing my iPod back from Sam and turning it up full blast once I placed the ear pieces into my ears. Looking at one another, the three of them could only shrug and return themselves to the task at hand. I knew I was wrong doing what I was doing, but I didn't know what else to do. This was the only thing that I knew to do.

"I know I have to change, but I just can't," I thought with a sigh. I knew that once this was over I was done. I couldn't continue to hunt. Not if this was the result.

* * *

"Maybe we can tell them that there's a gas leak. Might get them out of the house for a few hours."

"Yeah, but how many times has that actually worked for us?" I snorted with laughter as I leaned against the front seat to look between Sam and Dean. We were sitting outside the house of the family that supposedly the demon was suppose to be attacking tonight and Sam and Dean were pretty much just talking amongst themselves to help the time pass. Not that I didn't blame them for doing it. It was going to take some time, I think, for this demon to show. At least I think.

"Yeah. Could always tell them the truth," Sam said, causing the four of us to look at one another before snorting with laughter.

"Nah."

"I know, I know. I just….With what's coming with these people….."

"Sam, we've only got one move and you know it. We got to wait for this demon to show itself and then…."

"We get it before it gets them," I said, cutting Dean off as I spoke up. He looked back at me before nodding in agreement.

"I wonder how dad is doing," Sam said.

"I'm sure he's doing fine, Sam," Kiki said as she tried to keep positive thoughts like she always did when it came to our hunts.

"I'd feel a lot better knowing we were there back him up," Dean said.

"I'd feel a lot better knowing he was here backing us up," Sam said, causing me to sigh.

"Sam, Dean, you guys sound like you're never going to see your dad again," I said, causing them both to look at me.

"Artemis…"

"Don't you dare tell me that it's a possibility you may never see him again. Yes it is a possibility, but if you think that way, you're never going to see him again. You have to have hope," I said.

"You should really be thinking that yourself," Dean said, causing me to shake my head.

"I don't have anything to lose or gain, Dean. My family is dead and it's just me. Hope is just a distant thing in the sky for me now," I said, causing Sam to shake his head this time.

"Artemis, you have a lot to lose. You have Kiki, myself, and Dean to lose. You have your own life to lose. You've got to stop thinking that you're the only one doing this. You die and a part of us dies too. Artemis, you mean a lot to the three of us," he said, causing me to sigh and sit back.

"Sam…."

"Sam's right, princess. I'll admit you're a bitch and you annoy the fuck out of me, but you've grown on me. And I hate you right now for this chick flick moment," Dean said, causing me to give him a look before cracking up. My first laugh in several days or something.

"This is weird," Sam said as my laughter died down slightly.

"What?" I asked.

"After all these years, we're finally here. It doesn't seem real," he replied.

"We just have to keep our heads and do our jobs like always," Kiki said as I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but this isn't like always," he said.

"True," Dean said.

"Dean, uh….I want to thank you," he said, causing Dean to turn to him with a confused look as Kiki and I tossed each other looks before looking up to Sam as well.

"For what?" Dean asked.

"For everything. You've always had my back, you know? Even when I couldn't count on anyone, I could always count on you. And now, I just want to let you know. Just in case," he replied, causing my eyes to widen in shock. Did he just imply what I think he was implying?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you kidding me?" Dean asked.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't say "just in case something happens to you." I don't want to hear that fucking speech, man. Not from any of you. Nobody's dying tonight. Not us, not that family, no one," Dean replied.

"Except that demon," I said as Dean nodded.

"Right. Except that demon. That evil son of a bitch is not getting any older than tonight. You understand me?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod.

"Do the two of you understand me as well?" Dean asked as he looked back at Kiki and I. Well, more of me than Kiki. I gave him a look as I rolled my eyes but merely nodded my head in agreement. He gave me one final glance before turning around and taking another look at the house.

"It's not going to disappear, Dean. It's a house. Houses can't vanish," I said, causing him to turn back around and give me a glare. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him, causing Sam to scoff and shake his head.

"You amaze me, Artemis. You can be completely pissed off at us and still manage to act like a fucking child with Dean," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I have to do something to keep my sanity and keep my wall from breaking any further. God knows what you'll do if you manage to break it down completely," I said, causing Dean to shake his head.

"You're going to realize what you're missing when it's too late," he said, causing me to shrug.

"I've been missing so much in my life, Dean. This isn't going to make any difference except for the fact that my mother's death with no longer be in vain. I've only just turned 22, Dean, and I haven't had a normal life since that night. And I know you haven't had a normal life either since the night your mother died, but when you've got three things that just pull you down so much that you know you can't get out, even if you waste them, your life is already gone. I've got nothing, Dean, to lose or gain out of any of this. My brother's death is finally no longer in vain and my mother's will soon be as well. I've just got to live with the fact that I have to keep shoving everyone away from me in order to not kill anyone else," I said.

"Artemis, you keep saying you have nothing to lose or gain. You've got everything to lose and everything to gain. You're acting like Dean, Sam, and I are not part of your life," Kiki said.

"Because you won't be once this is over tonight. You can stay and do whatever since you're obviously attached to Sam, but I'm done. I'm done hunting. I've wasted 8 years looking for a way to kill everything that's happened to my family and there's just one I just can't. You people think I'm bloody fucking crazy for saying all of this, but you haven't walked in my shoes. You haven't gone through what I've gone through. So don't you dare judge me like you are. It's my life and if I fuck it up, I fuck it up. I'm just hoping that the fuck up will….."

"End your life? Is that what you're looking to say, Artemis? End your life? Are you fucking kidding me? Just because your life is a little tough doesn't mean you should want your life to end. And you're such a fucking bitch, Artemis. You're acting like Sam and I don't give a fucking damn to you. And what about Kiki? She's been by your side for three years and has done and will do anything for you. I just don't understand what you're thinking," Dean snapped, causing my eyes to narrow into dangerous slits.

"What the bloody fuck would you know, Dean? You haven't lived my life!" I yelled as I threw open the car door and got out.

"I don't need to live your life to see how much you're fucking hurting, Artemis. You don't think Sam and I are hurting? That we're fine? Do you honestly have any idea what we're feeling having to kill this demon tonight without our dad? Artemis, you're so fucking stuck with "the world is out to get me" that you're forgetting why you're doing this stuff in the first place. What the fuck do you think your death will do to us if you get yourself killed? Artemis, you've got people that care for you. Sure it's not like a big family thing, but we do care for you. You've got to stop acting so tough and allow us to help you before you driving yourself too far," Dean said as he got out as well.

"I don't want anyone's help, Dean. No one can help me. What part of that don't you get?" I asked, causing him to swear as his eyes narrowed.

"Stop being fucking stubborn, Artemis. You're burying yourself alive," he replied.

"So let me. At least I won't suffer anymore," I said, causing him to shake his head in disbelief. He was about to say something when I felt the wind start to pick up just a bit.

"Artemis, Dean, listen," Sam said as he motioned for us to shut up. Stopping our argument, I could hear static start to come from the car radio even though it wasn't on. The wind was starting to pick up more and I could see the house lights of the house we were watching start to flicker.

"It's here," I said as I moved myself around the car and toward the house. Sam, Dean, and Kiki quickly followed, causing Dean to quickly pick the lock and push open the door. Quickly making our way into the house, I was about to go up the stairs when I saw a bat come flying at me out of the corner of my eye and quickly ducked, causing Dean to catch the bat on the next move.

"Get out of my house!"

"Mr. Holt, please be quiet!" Sam yelled.

"Listen to me. We are trying to help you," Dean said as he held the man trying to hit us with the bat against the wall with the bat as leverage.

"Charlie! Is everything ok down there?"

"Monica, get the baby!" the man yelled, causing me to start for the stairs.

"Don't go in the nursery!" I yelled as I turned my head slightly to see Sam following me with the Colt in hand. We quickly rounded the top of the stairs as we heard the woman start to cry out and pushed the nursery door open even further to see a man standing next to the crib and the woman, Monica, starting to inch up on the ceiling.

"Hey!" Sam yelled, holding up the Colt and pointing it at the dark figured man. It turned slightly toward us and I was taken back for a slight second when I saw the yellow eyes beneath the shadows. I was brought back to reality when I heard Sam let out a shot, causing the woman to fall to the floor next to me and the demon to vanish.

"Where the hell did it go?" I asked as I gave Sam a look.

"My baby!"

"Get her out of here! I got it!" I quickly turned to see Dean rushing into the room and toward the crib where the baby started screaming.

"My baby! My baby!"

"Artemis!" I let out a slight yelp as Dean shoved me backwards, breaking me out of my trance as the room started to catch on fire. Quickly following the boys, I cringed when I heard an explosion. More than likely it was the nursery. Actually, scratch that. It was the nursery.

"Get away from my family!"

"But Charlie, don't! They saved us. They saved us." I watched as Dean handed the baby to the woman and them both look at the four of us as the fire in the nursery above us blazed.

"It's still in there!" My head snapped up to the nursery where I saw the shadow of the demon standing in the window.

"Sam, no!" I exclaimed, shoving him back as Dean got a grip on him to keep him from heading back into the house.

"Dean, let me go. It's still in there!" he exclaimed.

"Burning to the ground is suicide," Dean said.

"So what? I don't care!" he exclaimed, causing me to step back as I realized myself in his words. Was I really willing to give up my life for this demon or something? Was I really willing to end my life like this?

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Come on, dad. Answer your phone. Damn it. Something's wrong," I said as I met his voicemail once again and closed my cell phone shut before looking over at my brother. He didn't seem to hear what I was saying and I was starting to get pissed.

"You hear me? Something's wrong. Something had happened," I said.

"If you would of let me go back in there, I could of ended it. All of this," he said, causing both girls and I to look at one another before looking back at Sam.

"Are you crazy?" Artemis asked.

"Sam, the only thing you would of ended was your life," I added.

"You don't know that," he said, causing both Artemis and I to scoff in disbelief.

"So what? You're just willing to sacrifice yourself is that it? What about Kiki? What about Artemis? You know Artemis sure as hell wanted to go back in there as well, but you have to think about everyone of us," I said.

"Yeah. Yeah I am willing to sacrifice myself," he said, causing Kiki's eyes to widen in disbelief.

"Well that's not going to happen. Not to you or to Artemis for that matter. Not as long as I'm around," I snapped, causing him to give me a look.

"What the hell are you talking about, Dean? We've been searching for this demon our whole lives. It's the only thing we've ever cared about," he said.

"Sam, I want to waste it. I do. You know damn well that Artemis wants to waste it just as bad. Ok? But it's not worth dying over. You're starting to sound like Artemis," I said.

"What?" he asked.

"I mean it. If hunting this demon means you getting yourself killed or the girls hurt, then I hope we never find the damn thing. Not if it means losing both you and Artemis," I replied, shaking my head.

"That thing killed Jess. That thing killed mom. It killed Artemis's mother, Dean," he said.

"You said yourself once that no matter what we do, they're gone and they're never coming back," I said, causing him to stare at me for a second before I found myself being slammed against the wall by my brother.

"Don't you say that! Not you! Not after all of this, don't you say that!" he yelled.

"Stop it!" Artemis yelled as she tried to place herself between the two of us.

"Sam, look. The three of us. The girls. That's all we have. It's all I have," I said, causing my brother to look at me for a second before slowly letting me go, Artemis placing herself between us finally and shoving my brother back just slightly.

"Dean…"

"Sometimes I feel like I'm barely holding it together, man. Without you and dad, even Art and Kiki, I……"

"Dad. He should have called by now," he said as he started for the other side of the room, causing Artemis to turn around to give me a look of concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah," I replied with a nod.

"Try him again," Sam said, causing me to nod and take out my cell phone. Dialing my dad's number, I waited for him to pick up as it rang and it rang.

"You boys really screwed up big time." I froze as I heard Meg's voice filter through the phone.

"Where is he?" I asked, causing Sam, Kiki, and Artemis to look at me with concern.

"You're never going to see your father again. And you best be protecting those girls of yours because I warned your father about watching out for your girls if he screwed us over. You're never going to see him again," she replied, causing me to snap my cell phone close and look at the other three.

"Dean?" Artemis asked.

"Pack your bags. We're going now," I replied as I headed for my bag. The three of them gave each other looks before quickly going for their bags. We were in for a fight for my dad with this demon of a bitch and I was not going to let my father die. Not if it was the last thing I could do.


	14. Chapter 13: Devil's Trap

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Devil's Trap**

"Dean, I swear to god that if you spin this car around another corner like you are, I'm going to bash your bloody fucking head into the windshield. You're going to get us killed!"

"What the fuck do you want me to do, princess? We're kind of in a bind here!"

"Well you don't need to get us killed in the bloody fucking process!"

"That's enough out of you two! We don't have time for your bullshit!" Dean and I gave each other glares as he sped through the state of Iowa to get to his dad. Or at least where we thought he might be. I knew Dean was upset, but that was no reason to drive like he was and risk getting us killed. We were no good to anyone dead.

"You two are going to have to put your differences aside and actually get along. We don't have time for you two to argue or whatnot," Kiki said as Sam nodded.

"But on the other hand, I'm telling you, Dean. We could of taken him," Sam said.

"What we need is a plan. Now they're probably keeping dad alive. We just have to figure out where. They're going to want to trade him for the gun," he said.

"Dean?" I asked.

"What now, princess?" he asked as he looked back at me.

"Meg didn't mention any trade," I replied, causing Sam to look back at me before looking at his brother.

"Artemis is right, Dean. If that were true, why didn't Meg mention a trade? Dad, he might be…."

"Don't," he said.

"Look, I don't want to believe it any more than you, but if he is, all the more reason to kill this damn thing. We still have the Colt. We can still finish the job," Sam said.

"Screw the job, Sam!" he yelled.

"I'm just trying to do what he would want us to do. He would want us to finish the job. To keep going," Sam said, causing Dean to scowl.

"Will you stop talking like he's dead already? Listen to me. All of you. Everything stops until we get him back. Do you understand me? Everything stops," he said, causing the three of us to look at one another before nodding in agreement.

"So how do we find him?" Kiki asked.

"We go to Lincoln. Start at the warehouse where he was taken," he replied, causing me to scoff.

"Dean, that could take us hours to do. Days even. They're not going to keep John at the warehouse at all. Yes they're going to move him, but they're not going to leave a trail. They're really not that stupid," I said, causing him to look back at me before sighing.

"You're right. We need help," he said, speeding up the Impala. I gave Kiki a look and she merely shrugged as she turned her attention back to her laptop. I knew she was looking up anything and everything that could aid us, but at this moment I was more concerned about Dean. Just looking at him I knew he was breaking and I hated that. I was the one that was supposed to be the one that broke. The one that was suppose to not know what to do. Not Dean. As Sam and Kiki drifted off to sleep about an hour later, I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around Dean's neck. He tensed for a second but relaxed when he realized that it was just me.

"What are you doing?" he asked as I rested my chin on his shoulder.

"I have no idea. I think Sam calls it comforting. Sounded good," I replied, giving him a genuine innocent grin as he tilted his slightly to look at me.

"Ok….Are you sure you're not possessed?" he asked, causing me to give him a mocked hurt expression.

"Why Dean Winchester. I don't believe you. I figured you would have enjoyed this by now," I teased as a confused looked spread across his face before a smirk appeared as he realized I seemed to be flirting. It wasn't something I really wanted to do or was doing intentionally, but it didn't feel wrong and it was bringing a smile to Dean's face despite what was going on.

"Are you ok?" I asked, causing the smirk to disappear and him to sigh.

"Art…."

"Wow. You called me Art. Holy shit. We have to find a calendar the next time we stop and mark it down," I said, causing him to give me a look before laughing. I made a face and poked my tongue out at him before speaking again.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"A friend. Actually a friend of our dad's. He might be able to help," he replied, causing me to nod in understanding. It was silent for a slight while until I decided to speak up again.

"You know it's going to be ok, right Dean?" I asked, causing him to sigh.

"Artemis…."

"Dean, shut up. Just shut up. You know it's going to be ok. You know he's still alive. Don't go Sam on me. I mean, I'm the one that's actually suppose to say that there is really no hope, but for your sake and Sam's, I won't say it and I don't think he's dead. I know he's still alive. Just because I'm without hope on everything else, doesn't mean you have to be as well. Dean, you're suppose to be the brick wall that doesn't show emotion and doesn't think of the worst. You're not suppose to be me and break. If you break, then there really is no hope," I said. He was silent for a second before speaking.

"Artemis, I seriously think you're possessed or something. What has gotten into you?" he asked, causing me to chuckle.

"Dean, you and Sam are doing this to me. I actually have emotions and feelings because of you and Sam. And as much as I hate them, I can't hide them. And Sam and Kiki are out for the count until we get to this friend of your dad's, so I have to be nice and you know you can't hide anything from me because you know I can read you like a book just like you can me. But what I said is true. Please don't break, Dean. There is only room for one person to break and that's me. And even though I seriously mean what I say about quitting when we find this son of a bloody bitch and kill it, you are going to be alright. Sam and Kiki are going to be alright. Married down the road but alright. Dean, I can't fix what's happened to me. I can't fix anything. But you can fix what's going on now. You can save your dad and kill this bloody bastard of a demon. You can fix everything. Dean, you're a strong son of a bitch and if you break now like I see you want to despite saying you're not, there is no hope. No hope whatsoever. So I may sound possessed or whatever. At least, just this once, I'm being sincere and I'm being open with you of what I'm thinking. Right now, you're the only thing Sam has and you can't break. You and Sam are the only thing keeping Kiki and I, especially me, on our feet throughout this entire thing. You have to have hope, Dean. Just like you were telling Sam, even though you don't know for sure, you can't talk about your dad like he's dead. Have hope that he's still alive," I said. He stared at me as he came to a stop at a light that happened to be in the middle of nowhere. Why it was there I have no idea, but my attention really wasn't there. It was on Dean as he stared intently at me.

"What? Ok now you're starting to scare me, Dean. You're like all silent and shit. And you're never silent….."

"You talk too much," he said, causing me to give him a bewildered look before I gasped as he crashed his mouth against mine. Well not exactly crashed. More like kissed me softly in a way. My brain wasn't thinking at this particular time and I allowed myself to be sucked into this kiss. I could feel his need for dominance in the kiss but the gentleness he conveyed only made me want more as I could feel myself losing the fight with what was right in my mind. However, the slight movement from Sam caused me to pull away from him quickly and shake my head.

"No. No. It can't happen, Dean. No," I said, giving him a look as he looked through the rearview mirror as I leant back into the seat of the Impala. He didn't say anything as he peeled down the street, but I could feel his eyes burning into me as I rummaged in my bag for my iPod. Finding it and putting the ear pieces in, I continued to ignore his gaze as I looked out the window. What the bloody hell was I doing? I couldn't be doing this. No. Not with Dean Winchester. No. Not with anyone. I couldn't give into it. Not if I wanted him to be kept alive. Right?

* * *

"Here you go."

"Holy water?"

"This one is. This one is whiskey." I looked up from a book I was leafing through as Bobby, John's friend that Dean had thought of to come to for help, handed Dean a flask while he drank some of the other one before handing it off to Dean, who took a drink for himself.

"Bobby, thanks. Thanks for everything. Tell you the truth, I wasn't sure if we should of even come," Dean said, causing Bobby to shake his head.

"Nonsense. Your daddy needs help," he said.

"Yeah, but the last time we saw you, I mean you did threaten to blast him full of buckshot. Cocked the gun and everything," Dean said, causing me to giggle and walked toward them.

"Sounds like something I would do just to try and get your bloody ass out of bed," I said, causing Bobby to give me a strange look before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Dean.

"Yeah, well what can I say? John just has that effect on people," he said.

"Yeah. I guess he does," Dean said with a nod of agreement.

"None of that matters right now. All that matters is that you get him back," he said, causing me to nod in understanding.

"Bobby, this book. Huh. I've never seen anything like it," Sam said as he looked up from some kind of book that he had seen and had begun to leaf through with Kiki.

"Key of Solomon. It's the real deal all right," he said as he walked toward the desk where Sam and Kiki sat with the book while Dean and I stood close by listening. It had been a few hours since the incident in the car, which neither Sam nor Kiki knew about, and Dean and I were kind of not talking at the moment. I mean, we were when it came to the important stuff, such as his dad, but other than that, we were trying our best to avoid eye contact as well as words.

"And these protective circles? They really work?" Kiki asked, causing Bobby to nod.

"Hell yeah. You get a demon in one of them, they're trapped. Powerless. It's like a Satanic roach motel," he replied, causing Kiki and I to giggle as Sam merely shook his head at the joke.

"Man knows his stuff," Dean said.

"I'll tell you something else too. This is some serious shit you boys and ladies have stepped in," he said, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? How's that?" Sam asked.

"Normal yeah I hear about, say uh….three demonic possessions. Maybe four tops," he replied, causing me to give Kiki a strange look as she returned it. Looking to Sam and Dean for help, they kind of ignored us as they motioned for Bobby to continue.

"This year I heard of 27 so far. You get what I'm saying? More and more demons are walking among us. A lot more," he said.

"Do you know why?" Kiki asked.

"No. But I know it's something big. Storm's coming. And you boy and ladies, including your daddy, are smack in the middle of it," he said, causing me to frown. A storm? Of what? Demonic possessions? More killings of mothers with children six months old? What? I was going to ask him what he meant by that when I heard his dog outside starting to go nuts before suddenly stopping.

"Something's wrong," Bobby said as he got up and looked out one of the windows to see who it was that was coming toward the house. However, before he could move to check, the door slammed open and I backed into Dean as I saw Meg starting to come inside. He immediately moved me behind him as she gave us a smirk.

"No more shit, ok?" Meg asked as she looked between all of us. Dean made to move toward her with the holy water, but she merely flung him across the room with a flick of her hand, causing him to crash into the books cases and not move.

"Dean!" I exclaimed, moving toward him but finding myself being thrown across the room as well. Lucky it was toward Sam, who immediately pulled me up against him and held me tight against his chest in almost the same manner that Dean did when he was trying to protect me.

"I want the Colt, Sam. The real Colt. Right now," Meg said as she came toward us, Sam moving me, Kiki, and Bobby away from her.

"We don't have it on us. We buried it," he said.

"Didn't I say no more shit? I swear. After everything I've heard about you Winchesters, I got to tell you that I'm a little under whelmed. First Johnny tries to pawn off a fake gun and then he leaves the real gun with you two chuckleheads and your bimbo girlfriends. Lackluster man. I mean, did you really think I wouldn't find you?" she asked as she gave us a look of disbelief.

"Actually, we were counting on it." I raised my head slightly at Dean's voice and gave a sigh of relief when I saw that he was ok. Following his eyes as he looked toward the ceiling, I let off a smirk as I realized that one of the circles that Sam and Kiki had been looking at in the book was on the ceiling right above Meg.

"Gotcha," I said, causing her to whirl around and give me a dirty look. I merely rolled my eyes and let the smirk widen as she gave a growl.

**Dean's POV**

"You alright?" I asked as Artemis cracked her neck slightly as she watched Kiki and Sam tie Meg a chair in the middle of the protective circle we had trapped her in.

"Yeah. You ok?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"I felt like you. Normally you're the one flying across the room and having debris fall across you and whatnot," I said, causing her to give me a look before chuckling and shaking her head. At least it was something after what happened between us in the car earlier. I don't know why I did it, but something felt kind of right about it. I don't know. It just did.

"You know, if you really wanted to tie me up, all you had to do was ask."

"Fuck you, Meg." I exchanged a bewildered look with my brother as both Artemis and Kiki spoke to her in the tone that they did. I expected Kiki to make the comment because of Sam, but I really wasn't expecting Artemis to say anything. Actually, I guess I did with her attitude and everything.

"I salted the doors and windows. If there are any demons out there, they ain't getting in." I gave a nod to Bobby as he came back into the room after having salting the doors and windows before walking toward Meg.

"Where's our father, Meg?" I asked as I gave her a look.

"You didn't ask very nice," she replied, a slight smirk on her lips as she gave me a look.

"Where's our father, bitch?" I asked.

Geez. You kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh I forgot. You don't," she replied, a gasp ringing out from both Artemis and Kiki as they knew it was a sore subject for both Sam and I when somebody talked like that about our mother. I gave a look of anger as I bent myself toward her.

"Do you think this is a fucking game? Where is he? What did you do to him?" I snapped.

"He died screaming. I killed him myself," she replied, causing me to stare at her for a second before a slap rang out through the room as Meg's head whipped to the side from the blow that I delivered. Artemis gave me a look of bewilderment, but I ignored it for now as I stared at Meg with hatred.

"That's kind of a turn-on with you hitting a girl," she said.

"You're no girl," I said, shaking my head.

"Dean." I turned my head and a look to Bobby as he motioned for me to come talk to him for a second.

"You ok?" Sam asked as I walked away from Meg and toward them.

"She's lying. He's not dead," I replied as I gave Meg a look before looking at my brother.

"Dean, you've got to be careful with her. Don't hurt her," Bobby said.

"Why not? It's a demon for bloody sakes," Artemis said as I nodded in agreement.

"Because she really is a girl. That's why," he said, causing Artemis and I to look at one another before looking back at Bobby.

"What are you talking about?" Kiki asked.

"She's possessed. That's a human possessed by a demon. Can't you tell?" he asked, causing the four of us to turn and look at Meg, who was staring at us in a psycho sort of way.

"Are you trying to tell me that there's an innocent girl trapped somewhere in there?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod.

"That's actually a good thing," I said as I went and grabbed my dad's journal before handing it off to Sam and walked back toward Meg.

"We're doing an exorcism?" Sam asked as he gave me a look of bewilderment. I merely nodded and stood before Meg as she gave me a look before turning her attention to Sam as he opened up the journal to the page for exorcising a demon from a human.

"You going to read me a story?" she asked.

"Something like that. Hit it, Sam," I replied as I gave a nod to my brother, causing him to start speaking the Latin that allowed us to exorcise the demon that was holding the innocent girl inside this body in a trapped setting.

"An exorcism? Are you serious?" she asked as she gave me a look of disbelief.

"Oh we're going for it, baby. Head spinning, projectile, vomiting, the whole nine yards," I replied. She gave me a look before she started to heave just slightly as the reading was beginning to have an effect on her.

"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to rip the bones from your body. I'm going to peel the flesh from your girlfriends' bodies," she said as she looked to Sam before looking over at me.

"No. You're going to burn in hell unless you tell us where our dad is," I said as I leaned toward her. She merely gave me a look and I bitterly chuckled as I spoke.

"Well, at least you'll get a nice tan," I said as Sam continued reading. Meg was beginning to pant kind of heavily as the demon was starting to come through more and more.

"He begged for his life with tears in his eyes. He begged to see his sons one last time. That's when I slit his throat," she said, causing me to lean closer to her as I looked her straight in the eyes.

"For your sake, I hope you're lying. Because if it's true, I swear to God that I will march into hell myself and I will slaughter each and everyone of you evil sons of bitches so help me god. Where is he?" I asked.

"You just won't take dead for an answer, will you?" she asked.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Dead!" she yelled.

"No he's not! He's not dead! He can't be!" I yelled as Sam stopped reading and looked at me. The girls were standing behind Meg outside of the circle as they stared at me in somewhat of a shock.

"What are you looking at? Keep reading," I snapped as I gave my brother a look. He looked at me for a second more before continuing to read from our dad's journal. Meg's chair began to move as she began to slightly scream in pain, causing Artemis and Kiki to move back slightly in a bit of fear.

"He's not dead!"

"Wait!" What?" I asked as Sam stopped reading and we looked at Meg.

"He's not dead. But he will be after what we do to him," she replied as she gave me a nasty look.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" I asked.

"You don't," she replied.

"Sam!" I snapped.

"A building, ok? A building in Jefferson city," she said.

"Missouri? Where? An address," I said.

"I don't know," she said.

"And the demon? The one we're looking for? Where is it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know. I swear. That's everything. That's all I know," she replied, causing me to look at her before looking at my brother.

"Finish it," I said.

"What? I told you the truth," she said as she gave me a look of disbelief.

"I don't care," I said.

"You son of a bitch. You promised," she said, causing me to scoff.

"I lied! Sam! Read," I snapped as I looked at my brother, causing him to grab onto my arm as I made my way past him.

"Maybe we can still use her. Find out where the demon is," he said.

"She doesn't know," I said as I shook my head.

"She lied," he said.

"Sam, there's an innocent girl trapped somewhere in there and we have to help her," I said, causing Bobby to walk toward us from the place he was standing at as he watched us do what we had to do.

"You're going to kill her," he said.

"What?" Artemis asked as she gave him a questionable look.

"You said she fell from a building. That girl's body is broken. The only thing keeping her alive is that demon inside. You exorcise it, the girl is going to die," he replied, causing me to scoff and shake my head.

"Listen to me, all of you. We are not going to leave her like that," I said.

"She is a human being," Bobby said.

"And we're going to put her out of her misery. Sam, finish it," I snapped as my little brother looked at me.

"Finish it, Sam," Artemis said as Sam looked at her before looking at the book again and finishing the exorcism. We watched as her head snapped backwards and the blackness that was the demon shoot out of her mouth and eyes and toward the ceiling, trapping it into hell for all eternity now. Our eyes fell back on Meg as her head fell forward and just stayed there. I knew that everyone was thinking the same thing as to whether or not she was dead, but our question was answered when she let out a small moan and her head picked up just slightly.

"Oh my god. She's still alive," Kiki said as we all looked at each other in disbelief.

"Call 9-1-1. Get some water and some blankets," I said to Bobby before Sam and I went to untie her from the chair.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Shh…shh…Just take it easy, alright?" Sam asked.

"Come on. Let's get her down," I said as we tried as easily as possible to move her from the chair to the floor.

"It's been a year," she whispered.

"Shh…it's ok," Kiki said as she gently stroked her hair while Artemis knelt beside me with a glass of water Bobby had probably given to her to give to us for Meg.

"I've been awake for some of it. I couldn't move my own body. The things I did were a nightmare," she whispered.

"Was it telling the truth about our dad?" I asked.

"Dean," Sam warned, causing me to look up at him.

"We need to know," I said before looking back down at Meg.

"Yes, but he wants you to know that they want you to come for him," she replied.

"If dad's still alive, none of that matters," I said, shaking my head.

"Where's the demon we're looking for?" Artemis asked.

"Not there. Other ones. Awful one," she replied.

"Where are they keeping our dad?" I asked.

"By the river. Sunrise," she replied, causing me to give her a confused look.

"Sunrise? What does that mean? What does that mean?" I asked her. However, her eyes were no longer moving and as Kiki placed her hand over Meg's mouth, she looked up at us and shook her head. Meg was dead. Looking over at my brother, he nodded and we all slowly stood up.

"Alright. You four better hurry and beat it before the paramedics get her," Bobby said as we headed for the door to leave, leaving Meg on the floor to be dealt with by the paramedics already on her way. I felt bad, but I knew that we had to move on and find my dad.

"What are you going to tell them?" Artemis asked as she gave Bobby a funny look.

"You think you guys invented lying to the cops? I'll figure something out. Here. Take this. You might need it," he replied as he handed Sam the book that Sam and Kiki had been looking at earlier with the protective circles and such.

"Thanks," Sam said.

"Thanks. For everything. Be careful, alright?" I asked as I gave Bobby a look.

"You just go find your dad. And when you do, bring him around. I won't even try to shoot him this time," he replied, causing me to give him a slight chuckle before heading out after the other three. This was going to be a hell of a ride to deal with.

* * *

"You've been awfully quiet."

"Just getting ready."

"He's going to be fine, Dean." I stopped loading a gun and gave Artemis a look as she looked at me with a concerned look.

"Artemis…."

"Dean, you will be ok. It will be ok. You will be fine," she said as she stuck a gun in the back of her jeans and then cocked another one. I was about to say something when I saw Sam starting to draw on my car from the book that he was reading.

"Dude, what are you drawing on my car?" I asked.

"It's called a devil's trap. Demons can't get through it or inside it," he replied.

"So?" I asked.

"Basically turns the trunk into a lock box," Kiki replied.

"So?" I asked.

"So we have a place to hide the Colt while we go get dad," he replied.

"What are you talking about? We're bringing the Colt with us," I said.

"Can't, Dean. We only got three bullets left. We can't just use them on any demon. We got to use them on the demon," he said.

"No. We have to save dad, Sam. Ok? We're going to need all the help we can get," I said as I shook my head.

"Dean, do you know how pissed dad would be if we used all the bullets? Dean, he wouldn't want us to bring the gun," he said.

"I don't care! Sam, I don't care what dad wants! Ok? And since when do you care what dad wants?" I asked as I started to get pissed, causing Artemis to put herself between us as a just in case.

"We want to kill this demon! You use to want that too. Hell! You're the one that came and got me at school. You're the one that dragged me back into this, Dean. I'm just trying to finish it," he replied as he gave me a dirty look.

"Well you and dad are a lot more alike than I thought, you know that? You both can't wait to sacrifice yourself for this thing. But you know what? I'm the one who's going to bury you. You're selfish, you know that? You don't care about anything but revenge," I snapped.

"That's not true, Dean. I want dad back, but they are expecting us to bring the Colt. This gun. They get the gun, they will kill us all. That Colt is our only leverage and you know it, Dean. We can not bring that gun. We can't," he said, causing me to sigh in annoyance.

"Fine," I said.

"I'm serious, Dean," he said, causing me to give him an annoyed look.

"I said fine, Sam," I said, taking the gun out of my jacket and looking at it before placing it into the trunk. I sighed and ran a hand over my face as Sam and Kiki began to talk before looking over at Artemis.

"I want you to stay behind with Kiki," I said, causing her to give me a look of disbelief.

"What?" she asked.

"Just in case something happens, Artemis. I'm being serious when I'm asking you to stay behind with Kiki. I don't want you two hurt if something were to go wrong," I replied.

"Dean…."

"Artemis, I never ask you to do anything. I don't even force you to do anything you don't want to do. But I'm asking you to please stay behind with Kiki. If something goes wrong, I really don't want to feel guilty or something about it. I really don't want to see either of you get hurt," I said, causing her to sigh.

"Fine. We'll stay behind. But promise me something, Dean," she said, causing me to sigh but look at her.

"What?" I asked.

"Promise me that if something goes wrong, you'll just get the hell out of there," she replied, causing me to nod.

"I promise," I said.

"Alright. Kiki and I will stay here while you guys go to get your dad," she said, causing me to nod. I just hoped everything would be ok and not go wrong.

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"Do you think they'll be alright?"

"They'll be fine, Kiki."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Kiki. I'm bloody fucking sure they'll be ok. Stop asking that," I snapped as I gave my best friend a dirty look as she looked at me in bewilderment.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Just peachy," I replied.

"No you're not. What's going on?" she asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Nothing. It's nothing," I replied, causing her to roll her eyes.

"I know it has something to do with Dean. You two have been acting really strange with one another since we got to Bobby's this morning. Did something happen in the car or something?" she asked, causing me to sigh and try to keep from looking at her as we sat on the trunk of the Impala. I really didn't want to discuss this with her right now.

"Art?" she asked, causing me to swear before speaking.

"I kissed Dean," I said, causing her to blink before her jaw dropped in shock.

"What?" she asked.

"I kissed Dean, ok? It was right after you and Sam fell asleep on the way to Bobby's," I replied.

"So you like kissed Dean? As in on the lips? As in something emotional?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes and give her a dirty look.

"Kiki….."

"Artemis, that's great news. You two finally admitted to how you both feel about one another. Wait until Sam hears about this. He's going to be floorless," she said, causing me to shake my head.

"We didn't admit anything, Kiki. I don't like Dean like that and you know it. And Sam doesn't find out unless Dean or I tell him. It didn't mean anything. We just kissed. That's all," I said.

"Artemis, you are so fucking stubborn. Sam and I both know that the two of you like one another and it's more than an attraction. You two just won't admit it. Especially you. Every time a guy hits on you or gives you a comment, you just brush it off or you just go ballistic. Same goes for Dean. You get very agitated when he gives you a sexual comment about your outfits. Although I don't blame him for it since he is a guy. And you're a beautiful girl, Artemis. You know you are. I just don't understand why you just won't listen to your heart and just date the guy. We know he has an attraction to you and probably likes you more than just one of those bimbos he sleeps with if he can get one. You just won't give into it," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Guys just are not my thing, Kiki. And besides, I can't like him. I can't. I can't find myself falling in love with a guy and knowing that something terrible is going to happen to him. I just can't let myself fall in love with him. Not today, not tomorrow, not at any time. That kiss was nothing," I said, causing her to sigh.

"Artemis, you are such a stubborn bitch. Your heart and head are saying two different things. You are going to feel like such a bitch when you finally come to realize that you are so in love with Dean Winchester. You are, Artemis, and you just can't see it. You are going to regret it if you don't stop pushing him away," she said, causing me to scoff and get off the Impala.

"Kiki, I'm done with this conversation. I can't like Dean Winchester. I can't like him because I will end up falling in love with him but I can't let that happen. I can't let anything happen to you or to Sam or to Dean. I can't live with myself if something happens to you three. Just like Dean can't live with himself if something happens to Sam. Or even to me and you. Loving Dean is just not in the question, Kiki," I said, causing her to shake her head. She was about to say something when my cell phone began to ring, causing me to dig through my pockets and pull my cell phone out.

"Hello?" I asked.

"There's an apartment building a couple of blocks from the Impala. If you've heard the sirens of the fire department, you'll know it's the Sunrise Apartments where we're getting our dad. I doubt we'll be able to get out of the front, so I want you and Kiki to go around the building to the back and….."

"Sam!"

"Actually, make that as a definite," Sam said before he hung up, causing me to stare at my cell for a second before putting it in my pocket and giving Kiki a look.

"Trouble?" she asked, causing me to nod and take off in the direction that Dean and Sam had taken off in earlier, Kiki following behind me quickly. I rounded the corner of a bushy area and saw several people, most tenants of the apartments, standing outside while firemen seemed to be trying to control the situation of the people outside.

"Come on," I said as I motioned for Kiki to follow me. We quickly slipped in through an alley way between the buildings and ran toward the back of the apartments, looking around the top to the fire escapes for any sign of the boys and John.

"There!" Kiki yelled as she pointed behind us. Turning around and looking up, I ducked as the weapons bag the boys had been carrying dropped to the ground and I saw Sam and Dean helping their father down the fire escape.

"You couldn't use the front door?" I asked with sarcasm as Dean dropped down next to me and helped his father down.

"Now's not the time, princess," he snapped, causing my eyes to narrow. I was about to say something when I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye come from the side of the building and throw himself unexpectedly at Sam.

"Sam!" I yelled as I made my way toward him, only to fly backwards and hit the wall pretty hard. I groaned and lifted my head slightly to see Dean fly back in a car before the guy went back to beating the hell out of Sam.

"Do something!" I shakily pushed myself up off the ground and made to move toward Sam when the guy hitting on Sam fell to the ground with a bullet shot in his head. Twirling around, I saw the Colt, in which Kiki and I thought was locked in the trunk, in Dean's hands and was pointing towards the guy that was now on the ground. Picking myself up off the ground completely, I hurried toward Sam.

"Sam? Sam, Come on. Come on," Dean said as I helped him pick his brother up off the ground.

"Come on. We've got to get out of here," I said as he nodded in agreement. Helping to keep Sam upright, Kiki and I quickly followed Dean back to the Impala as he helped his dad, who looked worse for wear. I just hoped nothing would follow us to where ever it was we were going.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"How is he?

"He just needed a little rest. That's all. How are you?" I gave my brother a look as I came from the room that my dad was in so that I could check on my little brother and the girls. Kiki was patching Sam up and Artemis was nursing a small cut that she had received on her forehead from the wall that she been slammed into by the guy I had killed with the Colt.

"I'll survive. Hey. You don't think we were followed, do you?" he asked as he looked up at me.

"I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, I couldn't of found a more out of the way place to hole up," I replied.

"Yeah. Hey, uh….Dean? You um…you saved my life back there," he said.

"So I guess you're glad I brought the gun, huh?" I asked, causing him to give me a look as he shook his head.

"Man, I'm trying to thank you here," he replied, causing me to sigh as I gave him a nod and sat down next to Artemis as she popped a Tylenol.

"You're welcome. Sam?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You know that guy I shot? There was a person in there," I replied.

"You didn't have a choice, Dean. Sam could of died," Kiki said as Artemis nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that's not what bothers me," I said.

"Then what does?" Sam asked.

"Killing that guy and killing Meg? I didn't hesitate. I didn't flinch. For you and dad and even the girls, the things I'm willing to do or kill is just….it just scares me sometimes," I replied with a sigh.

"It shouldn't. You did good." Our heads snapped up as my dad came into the room and looked at me as I looked at him in confusion.

"You're not mad?" I asked.

"For what?" he asked.

"For using a bullet," I replied.

"Mad? I'm proud of you. You know Sam and I can get pretty obsessed. But you? You watch out for this family. You always have. Even now for the girls," he said, causing me to give him a bit of a confused look still before it changed into a neutral look.

"Thanks," I said before I turned to say something to Artemis. However, just as I went to, the lights started to flicker and the wind started to pick up outside.

"It found us. It's here," dad said as he looked to the outside and then looked at us. Artemis let out a whimper as she looked around the room in a bit of fright, causing me to instinctively wrap an arm around her waist as she leaned into me. I don't know why I did it. It was just some kind of automatic thing I did since I was always saving her in some way, but I knew she was frightened now. I knew Sam and I were as well. This was the end of the demon hopefully.

"Sam, you take Kiki and mind the salt. Bar every window and door," dad said as he looked over at Sam and Kiki.

"We already did it," he said, causing him to look out the window once again before giving him a stern look.

"Well, check it. Ok?" he asked, causing Sam to nod and hurry out of the room with Kiki in tow, leaving Artemis and I with my dad.

"Dean, I really don't like this," Artemis said as I felt her hands tighten slightly at my shirt.

"Dean, you go the gun?" I tore my gaze and thoughts away from Artemis as my dad spoke to me.

"Yeah," I said with a nod as I brought the gun out of my jeans.

"Give it to me," he said, causing me to look at Artemis as she gave me a slightly confused look that read the same thing I was thinking before looking over at my dad.

"Dad, Sam tried to shoot the demon in Salvation and it vanished," I said.

"Listen to me. I won't miss. Now the gun. Hurry," he said as he held out his hand for the gun. I gave him a look before looking down at Artemis as her grip tightened on me as she stared at my dad with an expression I had never seen before cross her face.

"Art?" I asked.

"Son, please. Give me the gun. What are you doing, Dean?" my dad asked as he kept Artemis from answering me. She stared at him for a split second more before moving behind me with a slight whimper. That was when I realized what was happening as I looked between her and the gun.

"He'd be furious," I said.

"Dean, what are you doing?" dad asked as I looked up at him.

"That I wasted a bullet. He wouldn't be proud of me. He's tear me a new one. You're not my dad," I replied, cocking the gun and pointing it at him as I pushed Artemis further behind me to keep her out of harm's way.

"Sam!" she yelled, trying to get my brother back in here.

"Dean, it's me," he said as he gave me a look of disbelief.

"I know my dad better than anyone. And you ain't him," I said.

"What the hell has gotten into you?" he asked as Artemis yelled for Sam again.

"I'd ask you the same thing. Stay back," I replied.

"Dean, what the hell is going on?"

"You're brother's lost his mind," "dad" said as Sam and Kiki came around the corner into the room, looking at me like I was crazy for holding a gun to him.

"He's not dad," I said as I gave my brother a quick glance before looking back at my "dad."

"What?" Sam asked.

"I think he's possessed. I think he's been possessed since we rescued him," I replied.

"Don't listen to him, Sammy," he said as he gave my brother a look.

"Dean, how do you know?" Kiki asked as Sam shoved her behind him for safe measures just like I was doing for Artemis. If it was true and he was possessed, we didn't need them in the cross-fire and getting hurt.

"It's just…he's different. Ask Artemis, Sam. You know the bitch is never wrong when she says something like that. You know she's never wrong," I replied.

"You know something? We don't have time for this. Sam, you want to kill this demon, you've got to trust me," he said, causing Sam to look between me and him. I felt horrible for my brother because he didn't really know what to do and who to take sides on, but I knew he had to take my side because I knew that this wasn't our dad.

"Sam, don't listen to him," Artemis said.

"Sam, for once in your fucking time spent with these girls, listen to what Artemis is saying. You know she's fucking right," I said as I cast my brother a look.

"Sam," he said, causing my brother to look over at our "dad" and stare at him for a second before shaking his head.

"No. No," Sam said as he slowly started backing away, pushing Kiki further behind him as he moved.

"Fine. If you're both so sure, go ahead. Kill me," he said, his eyes shutting as he bent his head down. I gulped slightly as I cocked the gun again and looked to my little brother to him. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

"I thought so," he said, slowly lifting up his head to reveal the yellowness of his eyes. The demon. However, nobody had time to move as the four of us flew across the room and into the wall, Sam and Kiki on the wall next to the wall Artemis and I found ourselves pinned to. None of us could move and we watched as our "dad" picked up the gun that I had dropped when being thrown.

"What a pain in the ass this thing has been," he said as he looked at it.

"It's you, isn't it? We've been looking for you for a long time," Sam said as the yellow-eyed demon looked over to him with a smirk.

"Well you found me," he said.

"But the holy water," Sam said, causing the demon to snort with laughter.

"Did you really think something like that works on something like me?" he asked.

"I'm going to kill you," Sam replied with a snarl, causing the smirk on the demon's face to creep even higher.

"Oh. That would be a neat trick. In fact, here. Make the gun float to you there, psychic boy," he said as he placed the gun on the table right next to him before walking toward the window next to me. Artemis made a comment under her breath that I didn't quite catch, but the demon must of because she let out a strangled cry as a gash appeared on her cheek within a split second.

"I'd watch yourself, little girl, and the comments you make," he said as he turned his gaze toward her. She merely heaved in a breath and gave him a dirty look.

"You know, this is fun. I could of killed you a hundred times today, but this? This is worth the wait. Your dad? He's in here with me. Trapped inside his own meat suit. He says hi. By the way, he's going to tear you apart. He's going to taste the iron in your blood," he said as his gaze fell upon me.

"Let him go or I swear to God…."

"What? What are you and god going to do? You see, as far as I'm concerned, this is justice. You know that little exorcism of yours? That was my daughter," he said, causing me to give him a confused look.

"Who? Meg?" I asked as he leant toward me.

"And the one in the alley? That was my boy. You understand me?" he asked.

"You got to be kidding me," I replied as I gave him a look of disbelief.

"What? You're the only one that can have a family? You destroyed my children. How would you feel if I killed your family?" he asked.

"I won't let you, you bloody son of a bitch," Artemis said, causing him to turn his gaze upon her and stare at her for a second before he smirked.

"You would know what it's like to lose a family, now wouldn't you, Artemis?" he asked as her eyes narrowed into slits.

"I've been hunting for you for a long time. I won't let you put them through what you put me through," she replied as he let out a laugh.

"And how do you propose to stop me? Mommy, daddy, and Bryce are gone. Mommy died in a fire upon the ceiling to save your baby brother, Bryce died because you couldn't protect him from the supernatural, and daddy died because you loved him," he said, causing her to give a growl as she tried to move but with no luck.

"You bloody son of a bitch," she hissed.

"You've got no one, kid. No one but that raggedy pink rabbit you've been carrying for years. You can't stop me," he said as she let out a cry, another gash tearing through her, only this time chest.

"You son of a bitch. Don't you fucking touch her," I snapped as he turned his gaze toward me with a sickening smirk.

"How would you feel if I killed your girl like you destroyed my family? How would you feel if I killed you family? Oh. That's right. I did. Still two wrongs don't make a right," he said.

"You son of a bitch," I said.

"I want to know why. Why'd you do it?" Sam asked as the demon looked in his direction.

"You mean why'd I kill mommy and pretty little Jess?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied, causing the demon to chuckle and turn to look at me.

"You know, I never told you this, but Sam was going to ask her to marry him. Been shopping for rings and everything. You want to know why? Because they got in the way," he said as he once again turned his attention to Sam.

"In the way of what?" Sam asked.

"My plans for you, Sammy. You and all the children like you. In fact…."

"No!" I watched in horror as Kiki began to rise up along the wall and toward the ceiling in the exact same way my mother, Artemis's mother, and Jess had when he was going to kill them.

"Aww….Does Sammy not want his girlfriend to die?" he asked as we watched Kiki be pinned to the ceiling completely helpless. I knew both Artemis and Sam were feeling pretty helpless as they watched their girlfriend and best friend cry out for help.

"Listen. Do you mind just getting this over with because I really can't stand all this monologue," I said, hoping to buy some time that would help out Kiki but also help us out.

"Funny. But that's all part of your MO, isn't it? Masks all that horrible pain. Masks the truth," he said, turning and coming toward me.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" I asked, cockily.

"You fight and you fight for this family but the truth is, they don't need you. Not like you need them," he replied.

"That's not true, Dean, and you know it. Don't you fucking listen to him," Artemis snapped.

"Sam, he's clearly John's favorite. You know, when they fight, it's more concern then he's ever shown you," he said, completely ignoring Artemis's comment.

"Yeah. I bet you're real proud of your kids too, huh? Oh wait. I forgot. I wasted them," I said. He stared at me for a second before he shut his eyes and bowed his head slightly before bringing his head back up and opening his eyes to look at me. It was a split second before I let out a yell as I felt like a knife was slicing me right across the chest.

"Dean! No!"

* * *

**Artemis's POV**

"No! Dean! You stupid son of a bitch!" I yelled as I watched Dean helplessly be sliced open by this demon right across his chest, blood slowly spilling out of him.

"Dad! Dad, don't you let it kill me," Dean said as he tried to fight back the cry that escaped his lips.

"Dean!" Sam yelled.

"Dad, please," he whispered as he slowly started to lower his head, unconsciousness more than likely taking over him. Toward death.

"Dean!" I screamed as both Sam and I struggled against the invisible barrier holding us against those walls.

"Stop. Stop it." My head snapped up as I heard John's voice. The real John Winchester's voice. My heart stopped when I saw Sam seemingly break loose of the invisible hold and grab the Colt before pointing it directly at his father.

"You kill me, you kill daddy," the demon inside John's body said as he gave Sam a smirk.

"I know," Sam said before he shot his father in the leg, causing the invisible barrier to break loose and for Dean, myself, and Kiki to fall from out current positions to the floor, Sam catching Kiki before she could hurt herself from falling from the ceiling.

"Dean," I said, quickly crawling toward him as Sam gave his father a look before kneeling next his brother.

"Dean. Dean, hey. Oh god. You lost a lot of blood," Sam said as I checked Dean's eyes to make sure he was still with us and not dead. Sure enough, he was barely there.

"Where's dad?" he asked.

"Right here. He's right here, Dean," Sam replied as he pointed slightly behind him where John Winchester lay on the floor with a gun shot to the leg.

"Go check on him," he said, causing Sam to give him a look of disbelief.

"Dean…."

"Go check on him, Sam. I've got Dean," I said as I gave him a look. Sam stared at me for a second before nodding and heading toward his dad. I watched as he stared down at his father for a second before turning my attention back to Dean, who was breathing kind of heavily and shortly.

"I need you to just talk to me, Dean. You can't go into unconsciousness," I said as I took off my main shirt, leaving me in a thin spaghetti strapped shirt, and pressed it lightly against his chest, giving him an apologetic look as he let out a hiss.

"Trying to kill me, princess?" he asked as I gave him a look before rolling my eyes.

"If I wanted to, I'd go find a huge knife and finish the demon's job," I replied, causing him to let out a short chuckle.

"Sammy, it's still alive. It's still inside me. I can feel it. You shoot me. You shoot me. You shoot me in the heart, son. Do it. Now." I looked up as Sam stared down at his dad in shock with the Colt in his hand that was pointing directly at John.

"Sam, don't you do it," Dean said.

"You got to hurry. I can't hold it much longer. You shoot me, son. Shoot me! Son, I'm begging you. We got to end this here and now. Sammy!" John yelled.

"Sam, no," Dean whispered.

"You do this! Sammy!" he yelled before I bit back a cry of fear as the blackness that was the demon, much like what had happened to Meg, erupted from John's body and disappeared into the floorboards beneath John. Sam looked between his dad and us with a bewildered look on his face before he pocketed the gun and knelt next to his dad.

"We've got to get them to the hospital. Kiki, help Artemis with Dean. She's not going to be able to lift his weight by herself," he said as he pulled his dad off the floor and tried to keep his balance himself. Giving him a nod, Kiki and I struggled slightly to get Dean up off the floor and follow Sam out the door. I was just hoping we could get to the hospital without anymore trouble.

* * *

"Look. Just hold on, alright? Hospital is only 10 minutes away."

"10 minutes is all it better be, Sam. I'm surprised your brother is hanging on like he is," I said as I pressed my shirt still to his chest to keep the blood from flowing heavily like it had. I was currently straddling his lap and talking to him to keep him from slipping into unconsciousness.

"I'm going as fast as I can get the Impala to move, Art. Just keep him awake," Sam said as he gave me a look through the rearview mirror. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to Dean.

"I swear your brother gets to be more like you every day," I muttered, causing Dean to let out a slight chuckle.

"He should be. Gets him the girls," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm sure it does," I said.

"I got you right where I want you, don't I?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes and tilt his face toward mine as I took in the smirk and the evil glint in his eyes.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" I asked as his smirk just widened.

"Can't help it when I've got a hot fucking female straddling my lap the way she is," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes and press a little bit harder on his chest, a hiss escaping across his lips.

"Oops. My bad," I said as he gave me a dirty look.

"Art, don't hurt him," Kiki said as she looked over at me from her spot behind Dean. I merely rolled my eyes and let up on the pressure just a bit.

"I'm surprised at you, Sammy. Why didn't you kill it? Thought we saw eye to eye on this? Killing this demon comes first? Before me. Before everything," John said as I turned my gaze slightly toward the front where I saw Sam look into the rearview mirror at Dean and myself.

"No sir. Not before everything. Look, we still got the Colt. We still have the one bullet left. We just have to start over, alright? I mean, we already found the demon once……" I didn't even hear Sam finish his sentence as I felt Dean's body tense and wrap his arms around my body protectively, my head making a sickening thud against the window as the Impala thundered sideways. My head slumped against Dean's chest as my mind blackened and I slipped in unconsciousness.

TO BE CONTINUED……….


	15. Chapter 14: In My Time of Dying

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Author's Note****:** A quick note to all of my readers. One or two parts of this chapter are in Sam's POV. Also, this will be the last chapter of the story that follows the season before it veers off course to focus more on Artemis and her past, especially her past that belongs to the curse she is trying to fix. It will also focus more on Artemis and Dean's relationship, much to the delight of all of my readers. So I hope you continue to enjoy as I get more of the chapters up. Enjoy!

* * *

**In My Time of Dying**

The sound of a closing door and the sound of gravel crunching caused me to give a slight groan as I let my eyes snap open quickly, taking in my surroundings as whoever was outside the Impala came closer. I didn't have much time to think as I made a grab for the Colt just as the driver side door was torn open.

"Get back. Or I'll kill you. I swear to God," I said as I pointed the gun at the black-eyed demon possessing the truck driver that had smashed into the car. Or at least that's what I remember.

"You won't. You're saving that bullet for someone else," he said.

"You want to bet?" I asked as I cocked the gun. He stared at me for a second more before the blackness of the demon erupted from his eyes and nose to the sky above, disappearing as quickly as it probably came. The driver dropped to his knees, heaving air into his lungs as he took in everything around him.

"Oh my god. Did I do this?" he asked as he frantically looked around. I completely ignored him as I let my eyes wonder to the other occupants of the car. They were all out and not moving at all. My dad was slightly leaned against the passenger side door, blood trickling down the right side of his face where he probably smashed it when the truck had hit us. Letting my eyes wander to the rearview mirror, I saw my girlfriend with her head thrown back against the backseat, a bit of blood dripping from the top of her forehead but not enough to make me really worried like I was about Dean or Artemis, who had been slashed up back at the cabin. Turning my head slightly since I couldn't see either of them in the rearview mirror like I could Kiki, I let my eyes trail to Dean and Artemis. Dean's head was against the window, blood down the side of his face and mouth as one of his arms splayed across the bottom of Artemis' back. Artemis didn't seem too banged up as I couldn't see her face with it being against Dean's chest, but then I saw the blood soaked up into the back of her white spaghetti strapped shirt that was dripping down the back of her neck from where she may of hit her head against the shattered window Dean was leaning against.

"Dad? Kiki? Artemis? Dean?" I asked, hoping one of them could actually hear me.

"Dude, don't shout."

"Kiki?" I asked as my eyes moved to the rearview mirror where my eyes locked with my girlfriend's.

"Sam, what happened?" she asked, her eyes started darting around as sirens began to fill the air.

"Truck. Demon possession. Are Art and Dean still breathing?" I asked, causing her to shift slightly with a hiss as she moved to check. It was a few seconds before she spoke.

"Barely," she replied as I started to panic.

"Art? Dean? Dean!" I yelled as the sirens began to get louder. It wasn't long before the sirens were right upon us and the sound of people's voices as they rushed upon both sides of the Impala.

"We've got five inside! Looks to be three male and two female!" I barely blinked before paramedics and firemen were working on getting the five of us out and to the hospital.

"The driver seems to be responsive!"

"Female passenger responsive as well!"

"Older male in the front passenger side has a gunshot to the leg! Slight blood loss!" This was all too much for me as I felt myself being strapped down to a board, Artemis and Dean being wheeled toward waiting helicopters quickly.

"Driver's side passengers. Both with deep incisions! Both unresponsive! Female with possible skull fracture!"

"Tell me they're ok," I snapped as a team of paramedics set to work on me to get me to the hospital.

"You have to stay still," one woman said as she gently pushed me back despite being strapped down.

"Are they even alive?" I snapped as I gave her a dirty look. But nobody would answer me as they rapidly began talking to one another as they hauled us off. Groaning in annoyance, I hoped that they were going to be ok. I wasn't really wanting to lose any of my family or the girls.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

I let out a groan as my eyes flickered open, the white walls of what I think was a hospital coming into my line of vision. Sitting up with a slight wince, I looked around for a split second before getting up off the bed and wondering into the hallway. It was deserted with the occasional nurse coming and going in rooms, but other than that, it seemed to be deserted.

"Sam? Dad? Kiki? Artemis? Anybody?" I asked as I began to wonder the halls in search of anyone that could tell me anything. I didn't see my dad or my brother or even the girls for that matter and it was really starting to bug me that I didn't know what happened to them. As I made my way down a flight of stairs, I could heard voices coming from slightly down the hall and I tilted my head slightly to see that there was a nurses' station there.

"Excuse me. Hi. I uh….I think I was in a car accident with my dad, my brother, and our girls. I just need to find them," I said as I stepped up to the desk to speak with the nurse that seemed to be on duty. She seemed into her work, so I assumed she hadn't heard me. But it was unnerving that she didn't even see me standing there.

"Hello?" I asked as I snapped my fingers and waved my hand in front of her face. She didn't even register that I was there and that was seriously creeping me out. I was use to Artemis giving me the cold shoulder and ignoring me when she was pissed, but this was down right creeping me the hell out. Hurrying along the hallways to try and find my brother or something or somebody that could help me out, I nearly ran into Kiki as she came hurrying around the corner.

"Oh thank god. Kiki, something is seriously wrong. We…." But she simply ignored me and turned into one of the rooms that I had passed by, causing me to growl in annoyance and follow her.

"I swear to god, Kiki, I'm going to wring yo……" But I stopped speaking as I gazed at the body lying in the bed that Kiki was standing next to. There was no mistaken the tiny frame and the dirty blonde hair as I stepped close to the bed to gaze down at the person lying there. There was no mistake that it was Artemis.

"Oh man," I said as my eyes wondered along her entire figure. She was breathing normally but her skin was pale and she seriously looked like she had been put through the wringers of hell. Her left cheek that had been slashed up by the demon was now stitched up and I saw several other markings on her face and her arms that were most likely from the accident. I had done everything possible, despite me being hurt, to protect her but something gnawed at me on the inside that told me that maybe I hadn't done a good job of doing so.

"Kiki, is she alright?" I asked as I gave Sam's girlfriend a look. But she plain out ignored me as she ran her hand gently across Artemis's face before quickly leaving the room. I gave another growl of frustration and left to the room, only to find that Kiki had seemingly disappeared all together.

"Great. Just what I need. People that act like they don't hear or see me and a girl who is probably half dead. Just what I….." But I never finished my sentence as I came to a screeching halt outside another room and nearly had a heart attack or something when I saw what I saw. Myself hooked up to machines as I lay just about as unconscious as Artemis was a few rooms down. This really couldn't be happening. I really couldn't be staring down at myself. I wasn't. Was I?

"This can't be happening," I muttered as I shook my head. I was about to walk from the room when I caught the sight of my brother walking along the hall outside the window before making a quick right into the room, stopping just like I had upon seeing myself lying there.

"Sammy, you look good. Considering," I said as I gave my brother a look.

"Oh no," he said, a look of hurt and anger and sadness washed over his face as he stood next to the bed.

"Man, tell me that you can at least hear me? How's dad? Is he ok? Come on. You're the psychic. Give me some ghost-whispering or something," I pleaded as I stood at the bottom of the bed looking between myself and my brother. I couldn't believe this. I was actually a damn ghost. A fucking spirit or something. An out of the body experience or something.

"Your father's awake. You can go see him if you like."

"Oh thank god," I said as I turned to see a doctor standing in the doorway.

"Doc, what about my brother?" Sam asked.

"Well, he sustained serious injury. Blood loss, contusion to his liver and kidney, but it's the head trauma I'm worried about. There are early signs of cerebral adima," he replied.

"Well what can we do?" Sam asked.

"Well, we won't know his full condition until he wakes up. If he wakes up," he replied.

"If?" Sam asked as he gave the doctor a look.

"Screw you, doc. I'm waking up. Come on, Sam. Go find some hoodoo priest and lay some mojo on me. I'll be fine," I said as I looked over to my brother.

"I have to be honest. People with his degree of injury wouldn't of survived this long. He's fighting very hard. But you need to have realistic expectations, son," the doctor said, causing my brother to sigh.

"And Artemis?" he asked.

"The young female passenger behind the driver?" the doctor asked, causing my brother to nod.

"Yeah. What about her?" I muttered.

"Sustained some mild injuries. A gash to her face and some scratches along her body much like yours. But like your brother, I'm very worried for her as she sustained a major concussion to the head. She had an extensive gash along the back of her neck from where she may have hit her head pretty hard. She's responsive to the antibiotics and fluids being pumped into her, but like your brother, there may be a chance she will not wake up. She, much like your brother, is in a coma like state. Although her chances of waking up are much better than your brother's," the doctor replied, causing me to run a hand through my hair and swear. I couldn't believe it. This just couldn't be happening.

"Sam?" I asked as I turned to my brother. But I was just met a blank stare of emotions just washing over Sam's face as he took in everything that the doctor told him. We had to find a way out of this. I was not about to die. Or let Artemis for that matter.

* * *

**Sam's POV**

"Alright. Here. Give them my insurance."

"Elroy McGilacutty?"

"And his two loving sons. The girls are taken care of?"

"Don't worry about it. With the amount of money Artemis has, we could buy the whole damn hospital and more. So I've got it covered." I looked up and gave my girlfriend a small smile as she took a seat at the end of the bed while I sat on a chair right next to the bed that my dad was in. I knew she was hurting because of the condition Artemis was in, but I wanted her to know that I was here and I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"So, what else did the doctor say about Dean?" my dad asked as he looked over at me.

"Nothing. Artemis is not much better off, but she's a lot better off than the condition that Dean is in. Look, since the doctors won't do anything, then we'll have to. That's all. I don't know. I'll find some hoodoo priest and lay some mojo on him," I replied.

"We'll look for someone," he said as I nodded.

"Yeah," I said.

"But Sam, I don't know if we're going to find someone," he said as I gave him a look of disbelief.

"Why not? I found that faith healer before," I said.

"But Sam, that was a lucky shot," Kiki said as she shook her head.

"Kiki's right, Sam. It was a one in a million shot," dad said as I shook my head and gave them both looks.

"So what then? We just stick here with our thumbs up our asses?" I asked.

"No. I said we'd look. Alright? I'll check under every stone. God knows what your brother would do if something happens to Artemis," he replied, causing me and Kiki to exchange looks before looking back at my dad.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm not stupid, Sam. I can tell when your brother is smitten with a girl. Well, one that is on the same level of crazy and stubbornness as he is. I have never seen your brother take to a girl as protective and serious as he has Artemis," he replied.

"I wish I could say the same about Artemis. She's so stubborn that she can't love anyone. She won't let anyone love her and she won't let herself fall in love. It's like she's afraid of the entire subject itself," Kiki said as she shook her head.

"It's not that simple, Kiki. If it weren't for the curse that she's under, she would probably already of been with Dean and not fighting him so much," I said as I remembered what Artemis had told me a few weeks back about the curse that she was under. It was horrible. I really didn't understand how she could live with herself and not want to find that cure since she hadn't found it already.

"What curse?" dad asked as he gave me a strange look.

"It's nothing. Look, maybe Dean and Artemis will see the light after this accident and maybe Artemis will look for the cure. But for now, we can only hope for the two of them to wake up," I replied, causing Kiki to sigh and give me a look.

"Where's the Colt?" dad asked, causing me to turn my attention to him.

"Your son is dying, possibly even Artemis as well, and you're worried about the Colt?" I asked as I gave him a look of disbelief.

"We are hunting this demon and maybe it's hunting us too. That gun may be our only card," he replied, causing me to sigh and shake my head.

"It's in the trunk. They dragged the car off to a yard off of I83," I said.

"Alright. You got to clean out that trunk before some junkman sees what's inside it," he said.

"I already called Bobby. He's like an hour out. He's going to tow the Impala back to his place," I said.

"Alright. You and Kiki go meet up with Bobby. You get that Colt and you bring it back to me. And you watch out for hospital security," he said, causing me to nod.

"I think I got it covered," I said as I stood up and headed toward the door.

"Hey. Here. I made a list of things I need. Have Bobby pick them up for me," he said as I turned back around and took a list from my dad's hands.

"What's this stuff for?" I asked as I looked at the list and then at him.

"Protection," he replied, causing me to nod and head for the door once again before turning back around to look at my dad.

"Hey dad. You know, the demon said he had plans for me and the children like me. You have any idea what he meant by that?" I asked, causing him to stare at me for a second before speaking.

"No, I don't," he replied, shaking his head. I gave him a look before nodding and heading out of the room with Kiki in tow. As we walked out of the hospital, I noticed how quiet Kiki had gone and gave her a look of concern.

"You ok?" I asked, causing her to give me a forced smile and a nod.

"Yeah," she replied, causing me to sigh.

"Kiki…."

"It's not fair, Sam. Why are we ok and those two aren't? Why did we survive with minor cuts and bruises and those two have their lives hanging between life and death? Yes Artemis is better off than Dean, but you heard the doctor himself. She may never wake up. I may never hear my best friend speak again. It's just not fair, Sam," she said as tears began to swell up in her eyes, causing me to sigh and draw her into my arms.

"Kiki, we are going to find a way to bring those two back into the living. I won't stop until we find some way of doing that. Yes Dean is in more likely to die than Artemis, but I'm not going to blow Artemis off as well. If I did that and my brother were alive, he'd have my ass. We are going to fix this, Kiki. I promise. Ok?" I asked as she looked at me. She merely nodded and buried her face into my chest as the tears started to fall. I was feeling the same way, but I wasn't about to show it. I had to be the strong one this time. No matter what it took, I was going to find a way to keep both my brother and Artemis alive. At all costs.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

I watched from the shadows as my dad sat beside my bed staring at me. It just wasn't like him to sit there and do nothing. If anything, he would have been up and doing something to help me.

"Come on, dad. You got to help me. I got to get better. I got to get back in there. You haven't called a soul for help. You haven't even tried. Aren't you even going to do anything? Aren't you even going to say anything?" I asked as I looked over at him in anger. He merely start there and I sighed in irritation.

"I have done everything you have ever asked me. Everything. I've given everything I've ever had. And you're just going to sit there and watch me die? What the hell kind of father are you?" I asked.

"Tell us how you really feel, Dean." I whirled around and raised my eyes in shock as Artemis casually leaned in the doorway looking at me.

"You can hear me?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes.

"You're not the only one agitated with the fact that nobody can hear or see you, Dean. You're not the only one experiencing an out of body thing. You look horrible, by the way," she replied as she peered around my body to the one lying on the bed. I stared at her for a second before I crossed the distance between us and pulled her against me in somewhat of a hug. She didn't seem to mind as she wrapped her arms around my middle and buried her face into my chest.

"I tried to protect you. I swear," I said against her hair.

"Dean, it's not your fault," she said as she looked up at me with a look on her face.

"But you….."

"I'm in a coma much like you are, Dean. I smacked my head pretty hard and I had gashes along my face and chest where the demon struck at me. I have a better chance to wake up than you, but still. I'm stuck in the same boat you are," she said.

"So now what do we do?" I asked, causing her to shrug.

"I was hoping you would actually have an answer to that. I don't like this out of the body experience thing. It's creepy," she replied. I was about to say something when I could hear a rumbling that caused Artemis to pull away from me and look around.

"What is that?" I asked as I began to head for the door. However, I nearly toppled backwards into Artemis as some sort of figure darted past me, causing me to look back at my dad.

"I take it you didn't see that?" I asked with a little bit of sarcasm.

"Dean?" Artemis asked as I gave her a look.

"Come on," I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the room with me. I hurried along the halls in search of what I just saw. As I headed down one of the halls, Artemis gave a tug on my hand, causing me to stop and turn to her.

"What?" I asked. She didn't answer me as she pulled me backwards a couple of steps until we were standing outside a room of a patient that was on the floor looking like she was choking to death or something.

"Hey! We need some help in here!" I yelled to the doctor and nurse that were standing at the end of the hall talking with one another. But it was no use as they simply ignored me while the woman was suffocating to death.

"I….can't….breath!" she cried out as Artemis and I quickly rushed into the room and knelt by her side. But it was too late as the woman stopped breathing and just went still. Artemis and I looked at one another in shock. What the hell was going on?

"Come on," I said as I pulled her up and led her back down the halls we had come from.

"Dean, what's going on? What the bloody hell just happened?" she asked as she gave me a look.

"I don't know, princess. But it's not something good. I think something might be in the hospital or something. You just saw the same thing I did. The woman stopped breathing and died. And I know you saw or felt what I did. A ghost or something," I replied as she nodded.

"What can we do? We're nothing more than ghosts ourselves," she said, causing me to sigh and give her a look.

"I don't know, Artemis. We're just going to have to figure something out," I said as I led her into my dad's room where he was now sitting in his bed, staring off into space. I think.

"Dean…."

"We're going to figure something out, Artemis. I'm not going to let myself die and I'm certainly not going to let you die. You understand me?" I snapped as I turned to look at her. I immediately regretted it when she stared at me in shock and hurt, almost like a child who was being yelled at for something they didn't do. I sighed and protectively drew her into my arms.

"I'm sorry, Art. I'm just having trouble dealing with all of this. I can't die. My brother and my dad need me. I would feel like hell if you died. It's all just too much," I said, causing her to say something that I didn't quite hear as it was muffled by my shirt. I pulled her back slightly and gave her a look.

"Come again?" I asked.

"You're a walking chick flick," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes and bring her back toward me. I was about to say something when I caught sight of my brother and Kiki walking into my dad's room.

"Sammy, tell me you can fucking hear me, man. There's something in the hospital. Now you have to bring me back so we can hunt this thing," I said as my brother walked right past me toward the window.

"Dean, they can't hear you," Artemis said as she pulled out of my grasp and looked over to Kiki, who was leaning in the doorway of the room and watching what Sam was doing.

"You're quiet," dad said, causing an expression I had never seen before grow on Sam's face before he turned around and threw the bag in his hand onto the bed at the end of my dad's feet.

"You think I wouldn't find out?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" dad asked.

"That stuff from Bobby. You don't use that stuff to ward off a demon. You use it to summon one. You're planning on bringing the demon here, aren't you? To have some kind of stupid macho showdown?" he asked.

"I have a plan, Sam," dad replied as calmly as possible.

"That's exactly my point! Dean is dying and you have a plan! You know what? You care more about killing this demon than saving your own son!" he yelled.

"Come on guys. Don't do this," I snapped as I stepped up along side the bed between the two.

"Don't you tell me how I feel. I am doing this for Dean," dad said as he gave my brother a hard look.

"How? How is revenge going to help Dean, John? And what about Artemis? Artemis is possibly dying too," Kiki snapped as she made her way toward the bed to stand next to Sam and give my dad a hard look.

"She's right. You're not thinking about anyone but yourself with the same selfish obsession," Sam added.

"Dean, make them stop," Artemis said as she appeared next to Kiki and across from me on the other side of the bed.

"That's funny, huh? I thought this was your obsession too. This demon killed your mother. Killed your girlfriend. Almost killed your girlfriend now. You begged me to be part of this hunt. Now, when you would of killed that damn thing when you had the chance, none of this would of happened," dad said.

"It was possessing you, dad. I would of killed you too," he snapped.

"Yeah. And your brother and your girlfriend's best friend would be awake right now," dad said.

"Dean," Artemis snapped, causing me to sigh in irritation at what was going on.

"Shut up, both of you," I snapped as I looked between my brother and my father. But they kept arguing as if nothing else mattered in the world and I could see that both Artemis and Kiki were getting upset over the situation at hand. I knew they had every right because the fighting was doing none of us any good whatsoever.

"I said shut up!" I yelled as I swung out my hand and sent the glass cup of water on my dad's bed tray to go flying, causing them both to stop arguing and look to the glass. Looking over at Artemis, I could tell she was confused and surprised at the same time as to how the hell I had done it.

"I full on Swayzed that mother fucker," I said as I looked between everyone standing there. Artemis looked ready to say something when I let out a wince and doubled over.

**Artemis' POV**

"Dean?" I asked, quickly hurrying to his side as he seemed to fade in and out like some kind of an electric shock or something like that.

"Something's going on out there," John said as he nodded his head for Sam to go check it out, causing both Sam and Kiki to hurry out of the room and after the doctors and nurses that I had seen fly by the room in a hurry. Doing my best to heave Dean off the floor, I helped steady him as we made our way toward the commotion. I could see Sam and Kiki standing at the edge of the doorway with looks of worry and concern on their faces and I knew it wasn't a good thing. I was right and was nearly a complete mess of emotions when I saw that the doctors were shocking Dean's body as if to bring him back to life or something.

"You get the hell away from me." I snapped my head in Dean's direction as he let go of me and headed into the room toward himself. That was when I saw it. The strange greenish-yellow thing floating above Dean's body. The thing I must of felt or Dean had seen down in the halls and what may have killed the woman on the floor.

"I said get back!" he yelled as he made a grab for it, only to be sent into the wall and the thing to move past me, giving me the chills as it did. I watched as Dean came out into the hall and looked frantically up and down both sides of the hall.

"Dean…."

"I'm not going anywhere, Artemis," he said as he turned back to look at me. I eyed him for a second before nodding my head. I was rather scared at the moment of losing him. Yes I hated him and yes I thought he was annoying, but Dean had really grown on me and him dying was the last thing I wanted to experience. Especially when I couldn't even figure out what was going to happen to me since I was experiencing the out of the body thing too.

"I'm not going anywhere, Sammy. I'm not going anywhere. I'm getting that thing before it gets me. It's some kind of spirit, but I could grab it. If I can grab it, I can kill it," he said, causing Sam to look in Dean's direction but not say anything. I looked back into the room as the doctors hooked Dean back up to the machines.

"I'm not going anywhere, princess. Come on. Let's go look for that damn thing," he said, lacing his fingers through mine and nodding for me to follow him as he quickly made his way back through the halls in search of that damn thing.

"Dean, are you sure it wasn't maybe a reaper or something? It looked like it wanted to kill your body or something," I said, causing him to shrug.

"I have no idea, princess. But I could grab it. You saw me do it. Hopefully I can do it again and kill it," he said.

"Can anyone hear me? Can't you see me?" We both stopped and looked at one another as a voice filtered through the halls and into our ears. Looking at one another, Dean gently gave a tug on my hand and we made our way toward a flight of stairs where we saw a young woman panicking slightly as she tried to get the attention of the people around her.

"Can you see us?" Dean asked, causing the woman to turn around and give us a look.

"Uh…yeah," she replied as we made our way toward her.

"Alright. Uh….just calm down. What's your name?" he asked.

"Tessa," she replied.

"Ok. Good. Tessa, I'm Dean and this is Artemis," he said as he gestured to himself and then to me.

"What's happening to me? Am I…Am I dead?" she asked.

"That sort of depends," I replied as she gave me a look. About five minutes later I found myself standing outside yet another room, staring into it as a young woman lay hooked up to a machine much like Dean was.

"I just don't understand. I just came in for an appendectomy," she said as she gave us both a look.

"I hate to bear bad news, but I think there were complications," Dean said.

"It's just a dream. That's all. It's just a very weird, vivid, unbelievable dream," she said, causing me to roll my eyes and poke Dean in the side to show him I was annoyed. He sighed and shook his head before looking over at her.

"Tessa, it's not a dream," Dean said.

"Well what else can it be?" she asked.

"You ever hear of an out of the body experience?" he asked, causing her to shake her head.

"What are you? Some kind of new age guy or something?" she asked, causing me to roll my eyes and speak.

"Do you see us messing with crystals or listening to Yanni? It's kind of an old idea that has a lot of old names. Bio-location, crisis apparitions, fetches, etc. I think it's happening now. To you and to us," I replied, causing Dean to nod.

"And if it is, then that means we're spirits. People close to death," he added, causing her to look at herself in the room before turning to look back at us.

"So we're going to die?" she asked, causing me to look over at Dean. Although I was kind of ok at the moment about this whole experience happening to us, it was beginning to die out and be replaced with doubt.

"No. Not if we hang on. Our bodies can get better. We can snap right back in there," he replied, causing me to sigh and ran a hand through my hair.

"Dean, I'm going to go back to the room I'm in," I said, causing him to look at me in concern.

"Artemis…."

"I can't do this, Dean," I said, shaking my head before backing away from him and hurrying down the hall. This was just too much for me. I know I was tough and that death didn't scare me, but this was all too much for me now. Dean and I were both on the brink of dying, him more than myself, and at the moment, I wasn't sure if I was ready to die. I wasn't on any machines to keep me alive, but I was in a coma and there was a chance I would not wake up.

"You've got to wake up, Art. Please wake up. I can't do this without you." I let out a sigh as I watched Kiki sit beside my bed with tears falling down her face. I hated seeing my best friend like this. It was painful.

"I'm here, Kiki. You just can't see or hear me," I whispered as I stood at the bottom of the bed.

"It attacked again."

"And it didn't come for me?"

"Artemis, don't you even start." I looked up as Dean stood in the doorway watching both of us, but letting his focus remain on me. I was going to say something when Sam came into the room, quickly saying something to Kiki before leaving the room just as quickly with my best friend following.

"What was that all about?" Dean asked, causing me to shrug and look back down at my body. Something inside me just wanted this to all be over with. Death or being alive.

"Artemis, I told you I would find a way to get around all of this," he said.

"I don't know what I want anymore, Dean," I whispered, causing him to give me a look before speaking.

"Artemis…."

"I was ok with knowing I was out of my body. I guess I was ok with dying if I had to. I've come so close so many times that it just comes naturally. But then, in the hall with Tessa, I realized how precious life is and that perhaps I don't want to die. But I can't do this, Dean," I said, shaking my head as I let a tear fall from my eye.

"Artemis…."

"I've escaped death so many times and the one time I didn't do anything wrong, I'm up to dying. It's not fair," I snapped as I turned to look at him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked as he gave me a confused look.

"Forget. It doesn't matter. I won't be lasting long and it'll all be over," I replied as I turned my attention back to myself, only to be turned back toward Dean as he took quick steps to stand in front of me with anger evident in his eyes.

"How can you think like that, Artemis? You're a smart girl but seeing yourself like this for the first time has really fucked up your mind. I'm doing everything I can to save your ass and you're just going to give up on me? What the fuck are you thinking?" he asked.

"I don't know anymore, Dean! I don't know! I don't want to die. I don't. But I don't know what's going to happen to me, Dean. I could very easily slip into an unconscious state beyond his and just never wake up. I might as well just let myself be taken. We lost the demon and we don't even know where to look anymore. I'm tired, Dean. I can't do this anymore," I replied, causing him to scowl.

"Do you ever think of anyone but yourself? What about Kiki? What about Sam? What about me?" he asked, causing me to give him a scoff.

"You? You? YOU? What the bloody fuck do I need you for, Dean? I handled myself just fine before you and Sam came tumbling into my life. It's you and your brother's fault for making me act the way I am. I never questioned my actions or my feelings before coming into contact with the two of you. But now, I can't control what I think and what I feel when it comes to a hunt. This last hunt has both you and I on the brink of death and you're telling me that you'll find a way? What if you can't, Dean? I can't do this anymore, Dean. And as for you, I don't need you," I snapped, causing his eyes to narrow and his eyes to become dark.

"Like hell you do, Artemis. Look at yourself. You think you know everything, but you don't. It's like you're afraid of letting someone get close to you and then watching them die or something," he snapped.

"Because that's what happened to my father! He died because I loved him, Dean!" I yelled, causing him to give me a look of shock, surprise, and confusion all bundled up into one.

"What?" he asked.

"I can't love, Dean. People have died because I loved them," I replied as the tears started to swell up in my eyes immediately.

"I don't understand," he said.

"When I was 8, my step-mother put a curse on me, Dean. She didn't like me from the moment my father introduced me and my baby brother to her and she really didn't like me as he showed so much more affection toward me and my brother than her two girls she brought with her from a previous marriage. She liked my brother though. She didn't have any sons, so she liked Bryce. When Bryce died, she blamed me and then became so outraged when my dad was showing more affection on me than her at the time of my brother's death. So she cursed me. Everyone I came into contact with and loved died within the hour. I had a choice though. Me or the person I loved. I was too young to understand it at the time, but I finally understood what was happening when I was 15. When my boyfriend died," I said.

"He died from diabetic shock, right?" he asked.

"That's what they said, but I knew it wasn't true. I knew what I had done. I had killed him. I had killed my father when he died a few weeks after Bryce's death. Haven't let anyone get close to me since my boyfriend's death," I replied as the tears began to fall down my face slowly. He stared at me for a few seconds before speaking.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he asked.

"Sam knows. I told Sam a few weeks ago. After the whole vampires kidnapping me and such. He was making some comments about you and how I should just admit that I like you. But truth be told, I don't. And even if I wanted to, I can't. Not with having to choose between myself and you if things got too complicated. I hate that I have to shove everyone away, Dean. I do. But I don't even know what she used to curse me or where to even look. I've been searching since I was 15, Dean, for a cure and nothing. I don't know what I want anymore, Dean. I really don't. But I know for sure I don't want to suffer anymore. I don't," I said as I tried to wipe at the tears that were coming, but it just wasn't happening. He stared at me in silence for about a minute before speaking.

"So you would rather suffer through life until you actually do die with no one to take care of you? To just live alone hunting for the rest of your life?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"I thought we would get the demon and then all I would have to do is worry about the curse. But I'm tired, Dean. If I ever wake up, I'm going back to California. My girlfriend Athena's got her own business in selling huge designer clothes in her shop. With the outfits I wear, it'd be no problem selling them. I'm just tired, Dean. Athena was right when she quit doing this job three years ago to date the guy she's married to. It's a never ending job, Dean," I replied.

"So what? You're just going to leave us all behind and try and live a normal life? Leave your partner behind? Artemis, I really think this accident is really getting to you," he said, causing me to give him a dirty look.

"What do you care, Dean? It's not like your going to stop hunting anytime soon. Your family is too important to you to stop. Well I've got news for you, Dean. I don't have family. I don't have anyone worth protecting because of this curse. I can't be like you and let my love and caring nature spill out to you or your brother or Kiki or anyone else I come into contact. And why do you even care anyway? It's not like I'm that important to you," I snapped, causing him to stare at me in shock for a second before his eyes clouded with anger and narrowed into slits.

"Not important? Artemis, if you weren't important to me like Sammy, I wouldn't of protected you the way I did. The way I always have for the last several months. If you think for one minute that Sam or myself don't care about you, you need to knock your fucking head against another window or wall or something. You're talking out your ass, Summers. You have three people that care enough about you and you want to throw it all away? Stop searching for the one thing that could make your entire life easier? You're so fucking stubborn, Artemis. You're just never going to…." But I didn't hear the rest as I felt a strange but painful jolt run through my body. I let out a strangled cry as it seemed to intensify.

"Artemis? Artemis? Damn it, Artemis. Say something," Dean said as he made to reach out to me, but I merely backed away from him and hit the wall behind me as I slid down to the floor, the pain so unbearable.

"Artemis? Artemis!" I let out a short gasp before I felt the darkness surround me and my head to slump against the wall.

**Dean's POV**

I watched in shock as Artemis' entire being just seemed to disappear right in front of me. It was like she had dematerialized right into thin air. Like a ghost or something would being hit by rock salt. The sound of a machine caught my attention and I turned toward Artemis' real body and watched as a nurse and a doctor hurried into the room.

"Pupils are normal. Vitals seem to be good."

"Movement in her eyes. Movement in her fingers. I think she's waking up." I watched in hope as the doctor and the nurse did a few things. And that's when I saw it. The movement in her eyes.

"Oh come on," I muttered as I stood by the side of her bed and watched as her eyes fluttered open slowly. I watched as they slowly adjusted themselves and took in everything around them. It was evident that she was completely clueless as to what was going on.

"Miss Summers, can you hear me?" the doctor asked as he ran his light across her eyes again.

"I can hear you, but I can't see you. Really blurry," she replied, causing me to realize that she wasn't wearing her contacts like she had been when we left. One of the doctors or nurses must of taken them out when she had been brought in.

"That's ok. It just might be a side effect from the car accident you were in. You've suffered a major concussion and we won't know if the blurriness will be permanent or not until we do a few more tests," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and smirk slightly when the familiar pissed off looked crossed in her eyes as they narrowed into those all too familiar slits.

"Find my girlfriend and she'll just bring me my glasses. I'm bloody blind without them or my contacts in, which I would assume you took out when I was brought here," she said, causing the nurse and the doctor to look at one another before looking back at her. The nurse reached beneath the bed and dragged out a bag that contained some of Artemis' belongings that Kiki must have brought from what was possibly left of the Impala and pulled out the case that Artemis kept her glasses in. Ignoring the orders of the doctor, she pushed herself into a sitting position and placed her glasses on before looking around the room and letting them land on the doctor.

"Car accident? I was in a car accident?" she asked.

"You were lucky, Miss Summers. A major concussion that placed you into a coma, but other than that, you seem to respond excellently to the fluids and antibiotics we've been giving you," he replied.

"And my friends?" she asked.

"Your girlfriend only escaped with minor cuts and bruises as did her boyfriend. His father was shot in the leg and has a broken arm. As for the other boy…."

"Dean? Is he ok?" she asked, causing me to sigh before speaking.

"I'm right here, princess," I replied as I waved my hand in front of her face, but like everyone else, she didn't even respond to it. She couldn't see me either. Sighing and not really wanting to stick around at the moment, I walked out of the room and down to where I was at. Not much had changed.

"At least Artemis is awake. Makes me feel better," I muttered as I leaned against the wall. My thoughts, however, were broken as I noticed Sam slip into the room with a bag in his arms. Curious as to what it was, I watched as Sam stood next to my bed and began to speak.

"Hey. I figured you were around, so uh….don't make fun of me for this, but um….but there is one way we can talk," he said as he pulled out a Ouija board, causing me to roll my eyes and give him a look.

"You've got to be kidding me," I said as I watched my brother walk toward the end of the bed and sit down on the floor. I watched as he took out the board game and set it up on the floor.

"Dean? Dean, are you here?" he asked, causing me to groan but walked to the other side of my brother nonetheless.

"God I feel like I'm at a slumber party. Alright, Sam. This isn't going to work," I said as I sat down and placed my hands on the curse. My eyes widened as I felt myself pulling the cursor toward me and moving it toward "yes."

"I'll be damned," I said as I watched surprise and happiness filter across my brother's face.

"It's good to hear from you, man. You and Artemis have been giving us a scare. Although Artemis has woken up. Doesn't remember much about the accident, but she's awake nonetheless. She's awake, man. It hasn't been the same without you two," he said.

"Damn straight," I said before I began to move the cursor against the letters.

"Dean, what? H? U? Hunt? What? You're hunting?" he asked, causing me to move the cursor toward "yes." Thank god my baby brother was smart as hell.

"Dean, it's in the hospital? That you're hunting? Do you know what it is?" he asked, causing me to move the cursor over the letters I needed and looked at my brother as slight confusion crossed his face.

"Come on, Sammy," I said.

"A reaper. Dean, is it after you?" he asked, causing me to stall for a second before moving the cursor to "yes." I watched as my brother's expression fell, causing me to want to just do something to keep it off his face.

"If it's here naturally, there's nothing to stop it," he said.

"Yeah. You can't kill death," I said.

"Man, you're uh…."

"I'm screwed, Sam," I said, watching my brother as I could see wheels beginning to turn in his head.

"No. No, no, no, no. Um…There's got to be a way. There's got to be a way. Dad will know what to do," he said as he got up and quickly left the room, causing me to sigh and slightly roll my eyes. There was about a five minute time span before Sam came back into the room and sat on the edge of my bed with dad's journal in his hands.

"Ok. So dad wasn't in his room," he said.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"But I got dad's journal. So who knows. Maybe there's something here," he said as he began to leaf through our dad's journal for anything he thought that might help me. I stared at my brother for a second before speaking.

"Thanks for not giving up on me, Sammy," I said. Although I knew he couldn't hear me, I knew it was the right thing to say. But the feeling faded when he flipped to something in dad's journal about reapers that caught my attention. Scanning it slightly, I gave a growl.

"Son of a bitch," I said before I quickly left the room and hurried down the halls toward the room where I had last been with Artemis and Tessa together. Stopping outside the room, I saw that it was empty except for Tessa, who was sitting on the bed. She looked up at me as if she heard my approach.

"Hi Dean," she said.

"You know, you read the most interesting things. For example, did you know that reapers can alter human perception? I sure didn't. Basically, they can make themselves appear however they want. Like say a uh….pretty girl. You're much prettier than the last reaper I met," I said as I gave her a look.

"I was wondering when you would figure it out," she said.

"I should of known. That whole rap about expecting fate of yours is far too laid back for a dead chick. But the mother and the body? I'm still trying to figure that one out," I said.

"It's my sandbox. I can make you see whatever I want," she said, causing me to scoff.

"What is this? Like a turn-on for you or something? Toying with me?" I asked.

"You didn't give me much choice. You and your girlfriend both saw me in my true form and flipped out. Kind of hurts a girl's feelings. This was the only way I could get either of you to talk to me," she replied.

"Ok. Fine. We're talking. What the hell do you want to talk about?" I asked, causing her to stand up and walk slowly toward me.

"How death is nothing to fear. It's your time to go, Dean. And you're living on borrowed time already," she replied as she placed her hand on my cheek and stared at me. I gave her a look back before removing her hand and moving to stand by the window. I stared out of it for a few minutes before speaking.

"Look, I'm sure you've heard this before, but you've got to make an exception. You….you got to cut me a break," I said.

"Stage three: bargaining," she said as she sat back down on the bed and stared at me as I turned around to look at her.

"I'm serious. My family is in danger. We're kind of uh….in the middle of this war and they need me. Artemis needs me," I said.

"The fight's over," she said.

"No it isn't," I said.

"It is for you. Artemis may have been able to see me, but it wasn't her time. It isn't her time. Her case is rather difficult and only one reaper has his hands on her card. When he deems her ready, then it will be her time. But for you, your time is up. Dean, you're not the first soldier I've plucked from the field. They all feel the same. They can't leave. Victory hangs in the balance. But they're wrong. The battle goes on without them," she said.

"My brother….he could die without me. And Artemis…."

"You know of her curse, Dean. She is not going anywhere unless she slips up and allows for the reaper assigned to her curse to come after her. As for your brother, maybe he will. Maybe he won't. Nothing you can do about it. It's an honorable death. A warrior's death," she said, causing me to chuckle bitterly and give her a look.

"I think I'll pass on the 72 virgins, ok? I'm not into prude chicks anyway," I said.

"That's funny. You're very cute," she said.

"There's no such thing as an honorable death. My corpse is going to rot in the ground and my family and our girls are going to die. No. I'm not going with you. I don't care what you do," I said as I shook my head.

"Well, like you said. There's always a choice. I can't make you come with me, but you're not getting back in your body. And that's just facts. So yes, you can stay. You'll stay here for years disembodied, scared, and over the decades it will probably drive you mad. Maybe you'll even get violent," she said, causing me to give her a slightly confused look.

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"Dean, how do you think angry spirits are born? They can't let go and they can't move on and you're about to become one. The same thing you hunt," she replied, causing me to give her a look before slowly sitting down on the bed that she had been sitting on a few minutes previously. Did I really want to stay here and become an angry spirit? Was my time really up? Was this really the end?

"It's time to put the pain behind you," she said as she sat down next to me.

"And go where?" I asked.

"Sorry. I can't give away the big punch line. Moment of truth. No changing your mind later. So what's it going to be?" she asked, causing me to think for a second more before turning to look at her. I was about to say something when the lights started to flicker in and out, causing me to stand up and slightly back away from her.

"What are you doing that for?" I asked, causing her to give me a look.

"I'm not doing it," she replied. That was when I saw it. A black form starting to come out of the vent behind her.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"You can't do this! Get away! Ah!!" I stepped back slightly, the black form diving right into her mouth as she screamed. I stared at her in shock and fear before she turned around, her eyes as yellow as the demon's we had faced.

"Today's your lucky day, kid," she said before she placed her hand on my forehead, causing me to gasp in slight pain and surprise.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"Hey." I shifted my eyes open slightly and turned my head to the side to see Kiki standing in the doorway with a slight smile on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"Can you walk ok?" she asked, causing me to raise an eyebrow in question.

"Kiki, I'm suppose to be taking it easy. What are you doing? Trying to kill me after I just woke up from being comatose?" I asked, causing her to chuckle.

"Same old Artemis. I'll ask again. Can you walk?" she asked.

"Probably with a bit of assistance. Why?" I asked.

"Because I have a surprise. Come on. I'll help you," she replied as she came over and stood next to the bed. I gave her a look and decided I had better not argue with her. It was bad enough that Sam was mothering me the way he was since I had woken up, but he wouldn't be happy if I ignored Kiki and didn't do what he asked. Wobbling just a bit since I still had a bit of a headache from the accident, I leaned against Kiki slightly and slowly made our way down the hall.

"I can't explain it. The adima's vanished, the internal contusions are healed, and your vitals are good. You must have some kind of angel watching over you," I heard a doctor say.

"Thanks doc." I froze slightly as a doctor came out of Dean's room with a confused expression on his face as he made his way down the hall. Stepping into view of the room, I saw that Dean was wide awake and sitting up like nothing had happened while Sam stood next to his bed with a small smile. Sam caught my eye and smiled more, but kept his attention focused on Dean.

"You said a reaper was after me?" Dean asked as he looked at Sam, not noticing that Kiki and I were in the doorway watching them.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod.

"How'd I ditch it?" Dean asked.

"You got me. Dean, you really don't remember anything?" he asked, causing Dean to shake his head.

"No," Dean replied.

"You sound like Artemis," he said, causing Dean to give him a look.

"Is she ok?" Dean asked.

"She's fine. She was comatose for a while like you were and has a major concussion from the accident," he replied.

"But is she ok?" Dean asked.

"Why don't you ask her yourself," he replied, nodding in the direction of the doorway, causing Dean to turn his head and the look of relief washed over his face as I gave him a small smile.

"Oh thank god. I thought maybe you dead or something," Dean said as I slowly made my way toward his bed.

"You can't get rid of me that easily. Just like I can't get rid of you that easily," I said as I sat down on the bed next to him with a slight wince.

"Don't hurt yourself. You're no good to us dead," he joked, causing me to give him a look before a slight smile crept across my face.

"You mean I'm not good to you dead," I said as that all too familiar smirk creeping onto his face.

"That's right. You're no good to me dead. I sure in hell can't taunt Kiki like I do you without Sam having my balls. Besides, Kiki's really not my type to slam up against the wall and have my way with," he said, causing my jaw to drop before I smacked him against the forehead.

"I hate you, you bloody prick," I said, causing him to laugh.

"Right back at you, bitch. You know you love it," he said, causing me to give him a look before chuckling softly.

"I guess I do," I said before I leant forward and hugged him, burying my face into his chest like it was nothing. I felt him stiffen slightly but almost like instinct, his arms wrapped around me and I felt myself begin to cry slightly. I didn't know what was happening to me. All of this was too much for me. It really was. I only looked up slightly when there came a knock on the door, seeing John standing in the doorway looking at all of us.

"Hey. How are you feeling, Dean?" he asked.

"Fine. I'm alive. And I've got a hot fucking girl curled against me like I'm the only thing that matters. Couldn't get any better," Dean replied, causing me to roll my eyes and slap him in the arm as he smirked.

"I go the picture. At least you're ok," he said.

"Where were you last night?" Sam asked, bringing the conversation elsewhere.

"I had some things to take care of," he replied.

"Well that's specific," Sam said, causing me to sigh and Dean to groan.

"Come on, Sam," Dean said.

"Did you go after the demon?" Sam asked, obviously ignoring us.

"No," he replied.

"You know? Why don't I believe you now?" Sam asked, causing me to sigh and lay my steadily against Dean's chest as he subconscious started letting his fingers go through my hair. It was actually quite comforting.

"Can we not fight? You know, half the time we fight I don't know even know what we're fighting about. We just seem to butt heads. Look, Sammy, I just….I've made some mistakes, but I've always done the best I could. I just don't want to fight anymore, ok?" he asked, causing me to look over at John in slight suspicion.

"Dad, are you alright?" Sam asked as he seemed to notice the same thing I did in John's attitude and such.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm just a little tired. Son, do you mind getting me a cup of caffeine?" he asked, causing Sam to give a slight nod before slipping his hand into Kiki's and leaving the room, knowing that I really wasn't up for leaving. I merely closed my eyes and listened to John begin to speak with Dean about Sam and whatnot. I really wasn't paying attention. The feel of Dean's fingers running through my hair was slowly luring me into a sleep. I wasn't even aware of what was happening around me until I felt Dean hurriedly get out of bed and pull me up with him.

"Come on, princess," he said as I blinked quickly to get my surroundings in order as Sam and Kiki quickly helped us down the hall where I could hear commotion going on in one of the rooms.

"What is going…." But my question barely left my mouth when my eyes widen at the sight of doctors and nurses working on none other than John Winchester. I watched in horror as he was flat lining and the hospital staff doing everything they could to get him back to normal. But it was no use.

"Alright. I'm calling it. Time of death. 10:34 a.m.," the doctor said as they stopped compressions and it was just a flat line.

"Oh my god," Kiki whispered as her hand covered her mouth, Sam's arms wrapping around her. I stared into the room for a few seconds more before turning my head to look at Dean. He just merely stared into the room as the nurses shut off the monitors and his dad just lay there, not moving. John Winchester was dead.

"Dean…." But I didn't even say anything else as he merely wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. I tensed slightly because this was not like Dean, but I pushed aside my thoughts and feelings as I realized what just happened. Sam and Dean's dad was dead. I grasped Sam's outstretched hand held toward me as he kept one wrapped around Kiki and let my other one wrap around Dean's torso. It was just the four of us now. I knew I couldn't leave now like I had when we were trying to stop the demon. Sam and Dean were going to need me and Kiki more than anything now. I couldn't leave. I couldn't leave Sam and Dean. Especially Dean. Not in this state.


	16. Chapter 15: Sweetest Sound Part I

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Author's Note****:** From this chapter on, the chapters will not follow any of the following episodes from season 2. Like I said in the last chapter, the story is going to focus more on Artemis and her curse as well as her and Dean's relationship, which will play into the curse. Also, since both Dean and Artemis don't remember anything that happened to them while they were comatose, Sam is the only one that completely knows the truth of the curse. Hopefully you all will continue to enjoy the story!

* * *

**Sweetest Sound: Part I**

"I doubt we can even salvage this. Are you serious about fixing the Impala up?"

"Do I look like I'm joking? If all you're going to do is bitch and moan, princess, take a hike and go do whatever your girlfriend is doing. If you're going to help, grab a couple of tools and help me underneath the Impala."

"You're actually allowing me to help you with fixing the Impala? You won't even allow your brother to help you," I said as I grabbed a couple of tools and handed them to Dean before stripping myself of my top shirt and tying my hair back. Grabbing one of the tools, I got down on my knees before flipping myself on my back and pushing myself beneath the Impala, where I started doing whatever as I sensed Dean join me from the other side.

"Because you seem to be more of the car type of girl. You recognized the Impala the very first day we headed out together. Didn't think you were the type of girl to know that kind of shit. Besides, I need a little time away from Sam. Figured Kiki could deal with him for awhile while I dealt with your bitchy ass," he said, causing me to give a glare before going back to what I was doing.

"That's just great, Dean. Glad to know what you think of me," I said, causing him to roll his eyes as he tore the wrench from my hand and handed me something else so that he could do whatever. I gave him a dirty look before reaching my hand up and rubbing it along a piece of the Impala before bringing it back down and rubbing it across Dean's forehead, a nice black mark across the top of his face that made me laugh as his green eyes sort of narrowed into slits of anger and also amusement. His lips crept into a small smirk, causing my eyes to widen as I realized what he was about to do.

"Shit," I said as I quickly pushed myself out from under the Impala and stood up just as Dean did the same, causing me to back away from the Impala very slowly.

"I'm trying to imagine that I don't have a black smear from the girl I happen to find very sexy and somewhat of a bitch, but it's just too hard for me to do that. You better run," he said, causing me to give a shriek as I took off toward Bobby's house, Dean vaulting over the back of the Impala and taking off after me. I quickly skid around Kiki coming out of the house and flew up the steps into the house, Dean not too far behind as I leaped over Bobby's dining room table and faced him as he stopped on the other side.

"What is going on?"

"Do you really think you can get away from me, princess?" Dean asked with a smirk, completely ignoring Bobby as he, Sam, and Kiki appeared in the doorway of the dining room and looked at one another in confusion before looking back at us.

"Well let me think about this for a minute? I've gone against things twice the size of you and have escaped death and other things a lot more times than you threatening me. Can I get away from you? Hell yes," I replied, causing his smirk to widen before he proceeded to jump over the table. I merely slid underneath the table and bolted for the door, only to let out a shriek as Dean grabbed my around the waist and threw me up over his shoulder.

"I'm going to go borrow your shower for a minute, Bobby," he said before he proceeded to walk out of the room, me kicking and pounding on his back so he would let me go.

"Dean Winchester, you put me the bloody fuck down right now or I swear to God I'll…."

"You'll what? I've heard every last one of your threats, Summers. Ain't going to work. Maybe a little cooling down might do you some good," he said as I felt my ass hit the hard tile of Bobby's bathtub, only to be followed by a shriek as a rush of cold water pelted and soaked me to the bones. I looked up at Dean with a glare as he laughed like hell at the sight of me. I merely gave a growl and made to stand up but because the water made the tub slippery, I slipped, causing Dean to come crashing down with me as he made to grab me before I could fall.

"Ow. That so didn't help anything," I muttered as I shifted myself, only to find that I couldn't quite move the way I wanted with a heavy body on top of me. Shifting my eyes opening, I saw Dean on top of me with elbows on either side and his head slightly rested against my stomach, making me shifted just slightly in slight embarrassment. He lifted his head slightly and gave me a slight smirk as he looked around, water pelting down around him.

"Something wrong?" he asked, causing me to groan and lean my head against the bottom of the tub in slight annoyance.

"Oh no. There's nothing the bloody fuck wrong. There's nothing wrong whatsoever with some random guy I've only known for about a year or so sprawled across me. There is just nothing wrong with it whatsoever," I replied with as much sarcasm as I could muster with my body starting to become cold from the water spraying down on top of us.

"I knew you would come around some time, princess. Especially since I'm pretty turned on with knowing I can see the black bra you're wearing beneath the white tank top you've got on. I got to hand it to you. Definitely can't wait to see you in a bikini and soaking wet," he said, causing me to groan and give me a dirty look.

"I'll let you have your fucking way with me if you just shut the bloody fucking water off. I'm fucking freezing here," I snapped, causing the smirk on his face to widen before he reached behind me and shut the water off, shaking his head and causing me to curse him into oblivion as the droplets landed on me.

"Anything huh? I'll remember that when you're fully ready to participate. And by then, you'll wish that maybe you hadn't gotten involved with me because I'm going to take you so hard that you'll be left with wanting more and more. Get dried up and help me out with the Impala," he said as he heaved himself out of the tub and gave me a wink before disappearing out of the bathroom, causing me to let my head fall back against the bottom of the tub once again in annoyance. Damn bloody prick.

"Artemis?"

"A huge fluffy towel would be so fucking nice right about now, Sam," I said as his face appeared over the edge of the tub and looked down at me in curiosity. He didn't ask me anything as he just gave me a look before pulling me up out of the tub and handing me a towel from the cabinet.

"Thanks," I said before I walked down the hall and into the room I was sharing with Dean since Kiki and Sam once again insisted that they be together. I hated those two sometimes. Sifting through my bag, I was unaware of Dean standing there next to the closet with nothing but a pair of boxers on until I found what I needed and stood up, turning around and jumping slightly when I noticed him standing there with that cocky smirk of his still plastered to his face.

"Jesus bloody Christ, Dean! Don't do that. Next time tell me you're in the bloody fucking room," I snapped as I hurled one of the pillows from the bed at him, missing him by inches as he ducked with a laugh.

"There's like no way I could do that. Besides, if you hadn't noticed I was here, I would of gotten a free show. And that's a hell of a lot better than some of the shows I have seen," he said, causing me to roll my eyes before pointing toward the door.

"Out," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"My room too. Besides, I was here first," he said.

"Dean, you've already got a pair of boxers and jeans on. You can finish outside while I get rid of all of my wet clothes and change into something warm. Sam!" I yelled, causing Dean to roll his eyes.

"Yeah. Like my brother's going to get me to leave. I don't think so," he said as he quickly advanced on me. I merely jumped out of his way and let him crash into the bed before leaping on top of him, straddling his waist as he tried to move. I knew he could easily throw me off with his weight, but he just stilled and looked up at me before cursing as I leaned down and put my lips to his ear.

"I'm warning you, Winchester. Two can play this game," I whispered huskily before leaping off the bed and nearly knocking Sam as I quickly left the room to change my clothes in the bathroom.

"Uh….don't want to even know. But maybe you should know that you and Dean had better get your asses out to the living room or whatever so that Bobby can fill you in about something going down. Possibly another hunt," he said, causing me to nod before shutting the bathroom door. I quickly discarded my wet clothes and changed into another pair of jeans and a tank top before heading into the living room where everyone was gather, reading through articles and such for research.

"So what's going on?" I asked as I threw myself down next to Kiki and accepted the laptop as she picked up a couple of newspapers on the floor next to her.

"A body was found mutilated a mile from a bar in Los Angeles, California. Found washed up on the shoreline of a beach. Another body was found the same way about a week prior a mile from the same bar. Same thing goes for about two or three weeks ago," Sam replied, causing Kiki and I to look at one before looking over at the three guys.

"What?" Bobby asked as he noticed our looks.

"What bar?" Kiki asked.

"Uh….Helios," Sam replied as he looked at a newspaper clipping before looking at us.

"Bloody fuck," I muttered as I ran a hand down my face.

"What? You two want to share with us what you might know about this bar?" Dean asked with slight annoyance.

"It's not a bar, Dean. Well it is but it's more like a nightclub in a sense. Hottest place in Los Angeles right now. Well it was the last time we were home," I replied.

"Yeah, well you would know since you spend every ounce of your time when you are home either hunting or at Helios singing," Kiki said, causing me to roll my eyes as Sam gave me a look of shock.

"You sing?" he asked.

"Sing? Sammy, this girl's got the voice to knock anyone else down. It's another one of those sexy attributes of hers she tries to hide so that people don't see it," Dean replied with a smirk as I rolled my eyes yet again and threw one of the couch pillows at him.

"No, Dean. That's only you. And stop trying to get a rise out of her. We have a case to work," he said as she shuffled back through the articles and stuff.

"Whatever. So what about these victims? Names or anything?" I asked as I looked over at Bobby.

"Surprisingly I couldn't get them," he replied, causing the four of us to look at him in shock. Bobby Singer not be able to get the names since they weren't in the paper.

"This stuff that's happening must be really horrible that the family is not allowing it to be released to the national news or whatever," Kiki said, causing me to pull my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed a familiar number, waiting for the person to pick up on the other end as it rang.

"What are you doing?" Dean asked as he gave me a look.

"What's it look like I'm doing, Winchester? I'm making a….Bitch, you better pick up this god damn bloody phone before I come home and knock you flat on your bloody fucking ass. I know you're there," I said as the answering machine picked up but was followed by the sigh of annoyance.

"I can see that you haven't changed, Artemis. What do I owe the pleasure of this time?"

"Athena, I know you know what's going on. Or at least have an idea what's going on. Once a hunter, always a hunter," I replied, catching the attention of everyone in the room as I said what I had said.

"Artemis, I have been out of the game for about four years or so. I've settled down with David and you know that. You were a fucking bridesmaid in my wedding last year when you were in California for a job. Yes I have seen the newspapers, but I haven't got a clue as to what's going on," she said.

"Have the newspaper clippings off the attacks?" I asked.

"Of course. I figured you would end up calling me about it. What do you need?" she asked.

"Names," I replied, motioning to Sam to give me a piece of paper and something to write with.

"Figured. Ok. Let's see. First attack happened three weeks ago. Girl's name was Lindsey Evans. Found mutilated a mile from Helios, which happens to be your favorite hang out place when you're here, behind an abandoned building. Second one happened just last week. Girl's name was Jennifer Jackson. Found mutilated a mile from Helios in her car. And the most recent was two nights ago with Kelly Lexington found mutilated a mile from Helios on the beach. Well, she washed up on shore. So I'm assuming maybe a dumping in the harbor or something. Anyways, I don't have any connections to what's going on. Possibly just a serial killer and not something supernatural," she said, causing me to snort with laughter.

"Athena, they were mutilated. I'm assuming when the police say mutilated, they're actually meaning that the girls were tore to pieces and it was actually kind of hard to identify the body. Wouldn't of mattered anyway with me. I know all three girls and all I would have to see is if they had silver bracelets with a simple charm on them. You know this means I'm coming out, right?" I asked, causing her to sigh in aggravation.

"I kind of figured. You crashing at your house or mine?" she asked.

"Mine. I've got enough room to fit an army inside. Besides, I've got Dean and Sam Winchester with myself and Kiki," I replied as I handed the paper with the names to Bobby before turning my attention to the phone conversation.

"The Dean and Samuel Winchester? John Winchester's boys?" she asked.

"Yup. I'm assuming you know of their father? Where the hell was I?" I asked.

"Out hunting things with his sons and your partner. John stopped by and asked me some questions regarding you and the connection to the demon that killed your mom. Art, you know I've known you since we were little kids. You may be four years younger than me, but still. Anyways, I gave him little to go on since you weren't here. I heard you've taken a bond to his eldest. What is his name? Dean? Artemis Flora Summers, you better be the fuck careful with what you're doing. You know what happened the last time you fell in love with a boy," she replied, causing me to roll my eyes.

"We'll talk when I see you. It'll take us probably a day or so depending on how fast Dean can get the Impala up and running. Didn't handle the accident well," I said, causing me to laugh as I heard the roll of her eyes.

"Why not just fly and drive one of your cars here? And what happened to your truck?" she asked.

"It got stolen and Dean's a chicken shit when it comes to that. I'll see you whenever these people make up their mind about what we're doing," I replied before I hung up and stuck my cell phone in my pocket.

"Want to share? And why the fuck am I a chicken shit?" I merely smirked in the general direction of Dean before looking over at Sam and Bobby.

"Athena says that it's been in the last three to four weeks that this has happened. Each time it's a female. Their bodies have been found mutilated a mile from Helios, but they're all different. Each body is found in some different place," I said.

"You said that it was a complete mutilation. Like nobody could identify the body. Why do you say you can with a bracelet?" Sam asked, causing me to sigh and finger the silver bracelet with a star around my right wrist. I never took it off and I never really thought about it until now.

"I know the three girls that have been killed so far. We grew up together until I had to move to England. Kind of lost touch. We were 8, so that kind of explains it. Really don't know what kind of girls they became since I haven't seen them in about 13 years. Anyways, our parents put in money together and got the four of us silver bracelets that each had their own charm. Each charm was different and it just pisses me off that they're dead," I replied.

"Ok. Was there anything that connected the girls?" Kiki asked.

"Nope. Not that I remember. And Dean, you're a chicken shit because you don't like to fly. Athena suggested flying and that's a really good idea since we don't have the Impala," I said as I turned to look at Dean, who gave me a dirty look.

"Fuck no, Artemis. You got a screw loose in that brain of yours," he said.

"Dean, we need to go to California. Can't with the Impala not being fixed. So flying's going to be our only option since some of these cars I see in Bobby's junkyard are just not going to cut it," I said.

"Artemis, are you fucking stupid?" he asked.

"I'll make you a deal," I replied in somewhat of a sing-song like voice, causing him to look over at me with a glare but a look of interest in his eyes as well.

"What are you proposing?" he asked.

"You get on that plane to and from California, even though I know you're so fond of your baby sitting out there in the junkyard, I might just let you get your hands on a couple of cars I've got sitting in the garage of my place that haven't been driven in months. Cars that will have chicks falling right into your lap," I replied, causing him to stare at me as Sam, Kiki, and Bobby looked between us as if we had lost our damn minds. The two of us prior to the accident were always throwing jabs at each other and were always just spiteful toward one another, but I don't know. With the accident and John's death, things changed slightly between us. We were still sarcastic and we still threw jabs at one another, but there was something there that wasn't really there before. I really didn't know what it was, but something was there. I could feel it.

"No complaints?" he asked.

"No complaints. Although I don't know if you can handle these cars," I replied, a smirk forming on my lips.

"Sam, call up the airline and book us a flight out to L.A.," he said as he turned his head to look at his brother. Sam stared at him in shock before looking over at me with a suspicious look.

"What?" I asked.

"Artemis," he said, causing me to roll my eyes at the tone in his voice. It was the "you had better fess up or there will be consequences" tone.

"I didn't do anything," I said.

"I'm sure you didn't. But could you possibly explain to me what the hell is going on between the two of you? Ever since the accident the two of you are actually acting more friendly and nice toward one another than before. And more sexually perverted than ever," he said, causing Dean and I to roll our eyes before getting up and heading toward the door.

"We're going back out to fix the Impala. Let us know when you've booked the flights. Come on, princess," he said as he grasped my arm and gave it a tug. I merely gave a shrug to a confused Kiki and followed Dean back outside to the Impala. Sam did have a point. We were acting strange, but neither of us really acknowledged that we were acting strange. It was like we felt we were acting normal. I think.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Bitch!"

"Brat!" I raised an eyebrow and watched with a slight snicker as the tiny body of Artemis launched itself at a dark haired girl waiting at the end of the terminal. She could be so childish sometimes.

"I swear to god that if you're going to try and coax me back into this whole thing, I'm going to take a shot gun full of bullets and shoot your fucking ass to hell, Artemis Flora Summers," the girl said as Artemis gave a smirk before sauntering away in the direction of what I guessed was the bathroom. The girl in question merely shook her head and turned to us with a look of pity.

"I'm so glad she's in your hands and not mine. I feel sorry for you. No. I actually feel sorry for the guy she's having problems with, which I'm assuming is you since these other two are holding hands. God you have your hands full. Bladder empty, kid? Good. Let's go before David has a cow because I'm not back in time to have dinner with him. Supposedly he's making a romantic dinner," she said as she gave me a look just as Artemis returned before turning and making her way toward the exit of the airport.

"You pregnant or something and allowing your hormones to take over?" Artemis asked as we followed behind the girl, causing the girl to give a slight groan and mutter to herself before turning and giving a glare to her friend.

"Sometimes I wonder how the fuck I got stuck with you, Artemis? Still the same annoying little bitch you were four years ago," she replied, causing Artemis to grin.

"Love you too, Athena. But you got to give me credit. My annoying skills paid off," Artemis said as she pointed to me, causing the now named Athena to give me a look before smirking and nodding.

"Fine choice by the way. Too bad you hate him," she said.

"True. But I got to give myself credit. I said he could play with the nice car collection I've got if he got on the plane. I know what makes him tweak. He's whipped," Artemis said, causing Kiki and Sam to no longer hold in there laughter and just laugh as I gave Artemis a glare.

"I am not whipped, you bitch," I said.

"You're whipped," she said as she pinched my cheeks and ducked my swing as she bounced back over to her friend. I gave an irritated growl and watched as the girl began to argue with her friend as the two threw the bags we had carried onto the plane with us into the back of a truck, much similar to the one we had seen the first time we met Artemis and Kiki back at the asylum.

"You didn't happen to spike her tea this morning, did you?" Sam asked as he glanced over at me, causing me to roll my eyes as I gave him a dirty look.

"If there was any spiking of any drinks this morning, it would have been mine," I replied with sarcasm as I motioned to the airport behind me before getting into the truck, Artemis and Athena still arguing about god knows what. That was when I took the time to observe the girl that seemed to be a close family friend of Artemis. Athena was about Kiki's height with waist length dark brown hair and deep chocolate brown eyes. Where Artemis was loud mouthed and wild, Athena seemed to be right in the middle of Kiki and Artemis. She seemed much like a bitch that Artemis was, but she seemed to have more of a friendly vibe going on than what Artemis would really put out.

"Ok. So I left everything you need about the murders on your dining room table. It's mainly just newspaper clippings of the last month or so. You're going to have to do the research yourself. I'm not getting back into what any of this, Artemis, so don't you try anything to drag me into it. David still doesn't know what the fuck I was up to before I met him and what I know you're up to with being back in town." I was brought out of my thoughts and gave Artemis a confused look as to what Athena was possibly talking about, but she just gave me a wave of her hand before speaking.

"Athena, if you knew I was going to call you about these murders, you had to of at least skimmed the articles. Was there any connection with them?" she asked as she looked at her friend.

"Besides them being women? No. They were all at the club the night they died, but that doesn't mean anything, Artemis," Athena replied.

"It does. Their bodies were mutilated. They could only be identified by the bracelets that were still attached to the bodies and…..bloody fuck," she said as she ran a hand over her face.

"What?" Sam asked.

"There were four bracelets. Lindsey's, Jennifer's, Kelly's, and mine," she replied as she turned her head and gave him a look.

"Artemis…."

"Athena, there is some kind of pattern here and I just……"

"Hello? What? Oh no." I gave my brother a questionable look and turned my attention back to Athena as she hung up her cell phone and looked to Artemis.

"There was another murder last night. Girl's body was found at her home this morning. Mutilated the same way as the other three girls. But this time could only identify her by the remains of her teeth. So the bracelets don't have anything to do with this case," she said, causing Artemis to curse and get out of the truck as it came to a stop. I raised an eyebrow in question and looked to my brother for an answer, but I merely saw his eyes nearly falling out of his head as he looked out of the truck to whatever it was outside the truck that we stopped. Leaning my head in his direction, my eyes widened as I saw the building in front of us. Artemis, Kiki, and Athena were already out of the truck and into the house when Sam and I got out of the truck, admiring the vast building we saw before us. There was no joking that Artemis was indeed rich.

"Call me if you need me to save your ass. Sam and Dean Winchester, it was a pleasure meeting you both. I'm sure this won't be the last time I see the two of you. Take care of the girls. Especially you, Dean. Mama Bear will be having your balls if you don't," Athena said as she exited the house and headed toward the truck, giving me a dirty look as she did before getting into the vehicle and driving off.

"Great. Another bitch who hates me. Just what I need," I said as we headed inside to see that Artemis nor Kiki were in sight.

"Hello?" Sam asked, his voice echoing throughout the entire house.

"Dining room," came Kiki's reply. Looking to one another, we shrugged and followed the sound of cabinets being shut hard and the sound of wood scrapping the floor to find both girls moving themselves quickly around the room, papers all over the huge ass dining room table that seemed to stretch much of the length of the room.

"Uh…."

"Not right now, Sam," Artemis said as she tossed him a book before returning to her search of something.

"What am I to do with this?" he asked as he gave the book a confused look.

"I know the owner of the Helios. I was the one that put together all the information about the place when it first opened. Figured something may be in there that we can use to figure out these mutilations. Thought maybe it was going after us that had these bracelets, but apparently I'm wrong since a girl was mutilated last night and had to be identified by her teeth," she replied as she gave a cry of triumph when she pulled a stack of papers out of a cupboard.

"Ok. Any idea what it may be since obviously you think it is nothing normal?" he asked.

"Nope, but whatever it is, I'm getting rid of it before it kills again. Besides, I like that place. I won't be happy with it shut down," she replied as she shoved the papers into my arms and quite forcefully shoved me into a chair before she threw herself into the one next to me and opened up Kiki's laptop.

"If you wanted me to sit down in order for you to sit next to me, all you had to do was ask. But I think I would prefer you to be sitting on my lap," I said with a smirk, causing her to give me a glare before returning to the laptop in front of her.

"Bedrooms upstairs, Art?" Sam asked as he placed the book on the table and looked to the irritated female beside me.

"Yup. Just stay out of mine. And that means you too, Dean," she replied, warning in her voice as she looked up at me. I merely smirked and was about to retort when Sam hauled me up and pushed me towards the stairs, leaving Artemis and Kiki to research or whatever they were doing.

"Dude, what's your problem?" I asked as Sam stopped at the top of the stairs and gave me a look.

"What's my problem? Dean, could you cut the sexual comments down just a bit? I don't know what has gotten into the two of you, but ever since the accident and dad's death, the two of you are worse than ever in the sense that you're acting like children and throwing sexual references at one another like it's nothing. She's throwing them back at you instead of just getting pissed off with you most of the time," he replied, causing me to stare at him for a second before allowing a smirk to form on my face.

"Are you jealous, Sammy? Tired of Kiki already?" I asked, laughing as I ducked the oncoming swing he let go toward my head.

"Dean, I'm serious. Back off of Artemis or something really horrible will happen to her, you, or even the both of you," he replied as he gave me a look. Rolling my eyes, I shoved open one of the doors along the long hallway and gave a whistle at the size.

"Now this I can get use to," I said as I threw my bag onto the bed.

"Dude, you sure this isn't Artemis's room? I really don't think Kiki nor myself really want to listen to the two of you bitch all night," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and point to the room behind him where it read "Artemis" right across the door. He gave it a look before rolling his eyes and heading further down the hall, muttering to himself. I merely shook my head and looked around the room. Artemis nor Kiki were lying when they said that Artemis was rich. The room was at least twice the size of the motel rooms we stayed in and despite rumors of what rich people usually kept in these rooms, the room was bare except with what was the necessity of the room.

"If the room is this nice and big, I've got to see the kitchen. I'm starving," I said as I made my way out of the room and back down the stairs. I would definitely have to annoy Artemis later about all of this.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

I shut the laptop lid closed and gave a yawn as sleep began to take over me. It had been a long day between the flight and the case we were working that all I wanted to do was sleep. I had just basically jumped from the plane into the case without really coming to a conclusion as to whether it was supernatural or actually just a normal serial killer of sickening. Standing up and stretching, I made my way upstairs to my room quietly, knowing the other three were probably dead to the world at 1 o'clock in the morning. Well, Sam and Kiki I knew were sleeping since Dean had been raiding my kitchen earlier. How the hell the guy can eat and possibly go to sleep was beyond me.

"It's like the guy has several stomachs like a cow or something," I muttered as I changed into my night clothes and crawled into my bed. I gave a sigh of content as I sank against the familiar silk of my sheets that I had not touch for nearly a year when I was last home for Athena's wedding. But as I lay there trying to fall asleep, I couldn't just sleep. Something was wrong. Swinging myself out of bed, I let out a sigh of annoyance as I pushed the door open to one of the guest bedrooms and padded my way over to where Dean laid sprawled out on his back sleeping. He let out a grunt as I threw myself with my back onto his stomach and gave him an innocent grin when he glared at me through half opened eyes.

"Summers, you better have a good explanation for waking me up," he growled.

"I can't sleep," I replied with a shrug.

"Yes, well unlike you, I was sleeping just fine until some fat-ass bitch decided to throw herself on top of me. Actually, I really don't mind that from you," he said as that cocky smirk formed on his half-asleep face. I merely rolled my eyes and smacked him hard in the chest for the fat-ass comment, although I knew that he knew I wasn't a fat-ass.

"Whatever," I muttered as I ran a hand over my face.

"Well if you're done talking to yourself, kindly get yourself off of me. You're suffocating me," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and throw myself onto my back next to him before cocking my head so that I could see his face as he shifted slightly and looked over at me.

"Why are you still in my bed?" he asked.

"Because I can't sleep. That's why. Anymore questions?" I asked.

"Not really. I'd rather not hear your voice while I try to go back to the peaceful sleep you woke me up from. If you can't go to sleep, go research or something. I'm sure you can find something about that place since you like the fucking place," he replied, causing me to sigh.

"I can't find a damn thing. Not a connection or anything. We're going to have to go down to the place and check it out. Find out what all the girls had done that night or something. This is exactly why I hate doing research like this," I replied.

"So we'll get Kiki and Geek boy to do it in the morning. I'm sure they can find something while you and I screw around like always," he said, causing me to give him a look.

"Please tell me that you weren't being perverted when you said that?" I asked, causing him to give me a look as well before that cocky smirk appeared on his face.

"I actually wasn't thinking it like that, but now that you brought it up….."

"Do you seriously think that you're going to get into my knickers being that much of a perverted dick?" I asked as I tilted my head slightly toward him.

"I will. In time. It's just a matter of getting there," he replied, his smirk never leaving his face. I gave him a look before turning my head and sighing.

"What?" he asked.

"Dena, do you think Sam's right?" I asked.

"Right about what? There's a lot of things I think Sam is right about but will never admit to. Got to be more specific, princess," he replied.

"Do you think that maybe he's right in the sense that we've become more….more unlike our normal selves?" I asked, looking over at him as he hoisted himself up on his elbows to look at me, attention now fully caught on the subject at hand.

"Artemis…."

"Dean, I'm being serious. I don't think we've had a normal fight without a high amount of sexual references being made since your dad died and we burned his body about two weeks ago. It's like the accident made something take over our bodies or something. We're really not the same," I said, causing him to sigh and push himself up into a sitting position.

"Artemis, we're still the same people we were before the accident. I swear Sammy is filling your head with all this fucking nonsense. I'm surprised you actually listen to him with the way you are with me. If Sammy decided to shove an encyclopedia down your throat because he said it was full of knowledge that would benefit you in the long run, you would let him shove it down your throat," he said.

"That is so not true. Why the bloody fuck would I want to eat a book?" I asked as I gave him a look of craziness, which caused him to shake his head with a chuckle.

"Artemis….."

"Dean, I know you know that something has changed between us. I can feel it. Things that are being done don't feel wrong and it's really creepy. I don't know if it's because something altered our brains or if it's because of your father's death….."

"Artemis, just shut up," he said, giving me a dirty look.

"Dean, you can't hide your emotions about it. I know it's hurting you. Yes your not like Sam in that you actually show that you're hurting, but you can't hide the fact that your father is gone. And I know what you're feeling," I said as I sat up.

"Artemis, I really don't want to talk about this…."

"That's because you are a stubborn dick who believes that showing no emotion is the best way to stay strong. And don't tell me that's not true because I'm prime example of that, jerk," I said as I crossed my arms over my chest. He stared at me before rolling his eyes and running a hand over his face.

"Why again are you in my bed?" he asked, causing me to grab one of the pillows and smash him in the face with it. He stared at me for a second before launching himself at me, pinning me beneath him with some kind of look across his face.

"Get off of me," I said.

"No. And don't even think about screaming," he said, causing my eyes to narrow at his command.

"Who the bloody fuck do you think you….." But my question was caught off as he yanked me toward him so that I was straddling his lap and kissed me hard on the mouth, causing me to gasp slightly. He took the advantage of that as I felt his tongue sweep into my mouth quickly, my body tense for a second before I felt something unexpected jolt through my body that caused me to wrapped my arms around his neck. His kiss was full of hunger and passion as our tongues fought for dominance, in which he won as he tossed me slightly back against the pillows again before reclaiming my lips against his. I let out a soft moan as he started kissing down my neck and his hands began to roam down toward the end of my shirt.

"Hey Dean! I can't…..Whoa!" I shoved Dean so hard away from me that he tumbled off the bed with a string of curses as my eyes shifted to Sam standing in the doorway with a shocked look on his face.

"Sam," Dean growled, grasping the bed to pull himself up from the floor and glared at his brother as I swung my feet off the bed and let my hair fall down into my face to hide the red that was seeping across my cheeks.

"Uh….Kiki, I found Artemis. Art, another murder has taken place. Your phone was ringing off the hook and woke Kiki up. It was Athena. She saw it on the news. Apparently they put this stuff on the news this early in the morning," he said with an awkward state of body language as Kiki appeared in the doorway. I buried my face into my hands and gave a groan.

"Uh….ok. We'll take care of it as soon as we get up in the morning. Good night," I said as I quickly pushed past Sam and Kiki and shut my door behind me. I could hear Dean speaking harshly to Sam as I locked my door, but I didn't hear any of it as I threw myself onto my bed and buried my head beneath the dozen pillows there with a scream. What was going on?

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"So you and Artemis, huh?"

"Shut up."

"It's about damn time. Took you long enough."

"Shut up."

"You know I'm not going to stop harassing you about this, Dean."

"Sam, for once in your life, shut up before I take the shot gun and shoot both you and Kiki. And that includes leaving Artemis the hell alone," I said, giving my brother a dirty look as we looked around the Helios club, or whatever the fuck it was called, while Artemis and Kiki talked to the owner.

"Dude, obviously something happened since I found the two of you making out last night. And what the hell was she doing in your bed in the first place?" he asked, ignoring me completely and continuing on.

"She was in my bed because she couldn't sleep," I replied.

"And the making out was because?" he asked.

"Sam, that's enough. I'm serious about shooting you," I replied.

"I'll kill you if you do." I merely rolled my eyes as Kiki and Artemis approached us.

"Yeah, yeah. What did you get?" I asked as I directed my attention to Artemis, causing her to blush just slightly as she rubbed the back of her head, last night probably still on her mind. I let out a chuckle and knew I could use this against her, but I'd let her slide just for this once.

"They were all here for a couple of hours the night they were murdered with a couple of their friends. Danced, drank, etc.," she replied.

"Bartenders could confirm it?" Sam asked.

"Yup," Kiki replied with a nod.

"So that doesn't explain why they were murdered and not their friends," I said as I shook my head.

"Art?" Sam asked, causing me to turn my head to look at her as she shifted slightly and looked slightly uncomfortable.

"They all sang the night they died," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow as Sam gave her a confused look.

"What?" he asked.

"They all sang the night they died. This club/bar is all about either a DJ or letting the crowd entertain the audience or whatever. Most people are usually horrible and not a lot of people are really good, but we get good laughs out of people making fools of themselves. Anyways, the owner told us that each girl had been singing that night they died. With Lindsey, Jennifer, and Kelly, I believe it because the last time I checked, they had great voices on them," she replied.

"So what? We're looking for something supernatural killing girls that can sing?" I asked.

"Sam and I are going to look into it after we leave here because there is actually an old legend about this building," Kiki replied.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"My grandmother use to tell me about her and my grandfather's dates to this building many years back. It was called the Red Apple. It was famous for jazz bands and singers of all kinds. It was a neat little place. Until a singer killed herself," she replied.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Legend goes that the singer was in love with the owner of the club. Heard he really loved girls with strong voices. There was also another singer, a more popular singer at the time, also in love with the owner. Apparently the one who won the heart of the owner killed the other singer. Legend goes that the ghost of the dead singer, who's name was actually Jessica Rien, still haunts this building and goes after anyone who tries to outshine "her." But it's just a legend," she replied.

"So you and Sam do the research and princess and I will search for her bones or whatnot?" I asked.

"She was cremated. Or that's how the legend goes," Artemis replied as she shook her head.

"So how the fuck do we kill her then?" I asked.

"That's why I said that Sam and I need to research. As for you and Artemis, maybe another little session like early this morning will do just fine for the two of you. Bye," Kiki replied as she quickly tugged on Sam's arm with a snicker before the two quickly left the club/bar, leaving Artemis and I to one another.

"So….."

"Princess, I ain't going to try anything on you. Stop bugging out. That's more annoying than your attitude. Come on. I saw some pretty neat parts I want for rebuilding the Impala," I said as I grabbed onto her hand and dragged her out of the club. I could hear her slightly protest, but I merely gave her a look as I put on my sunglasses and she shut up with a sigh.

"Dean, about last night….."

"Artemis, you really know how to ruin a good day," I said as I stopped and turned to look at her.

"Dean, we can't just let this go. Just like we can't let go of the fact that your dad is dead. Dean, you need to sit down and talk to your brother. Sam is hurting. And the two of us need to talk about what happened last night. That should of never happened," she said, causing me to groan.

"Artemis, we'll talk later about this. Ok? We'll talk later," I said, causing her to grab my arm and whip me back around toward her as I tried to walk away.

"No. We'll talk now," she snapped as she dragged me the best she could down the street and into a nearby coffee place. She immediately put in an order with the woman behind the counter before tugging me toward an isolated booth in the corner and shoved me into one side before flopping down on the other side. She gave the lady who brought us coffee and a basket of doughnuts a grateful smile and nod before fixing her attention on me.

"Dean, about last night….."

"Artemis, it happened. It was bound to happen. You know it. I know it. Sam and Kiki, which I'm going to hang later or whatever, know it. Don't get yourself all worked up over it," I said, causing her to give me a dirty look and slam her cup down.

"Don't get myself worked up over it? Dean, it can't happen again," she snapped, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion. What the hell was she getting herself all worked up for?

"Artemis, what has gotten into you? It happened. Fine to we won't let it happen again. But you're acting like you're going to kill me or something for a simple make-out session," I said, causing her to sigh and run her hands through her hair.

"Dean, it just can't happen again, ok? I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you," she said as the last part came out as a slight whisper.

"Artemis, what are you talking about?" I asked, causing her to shake her head.

"Dean, just don't. Ok? Just don't. I think Sam is right. Something has happened to us since the accident and your dad's death. We need to stop before something harms us," she replied, causing me to scoff.

"I think you're so full of it, Artemis. You're just scared of letting someone get close to you. Or to even love you. You're really going to suffer if you don't stop," I said, causing her to roll her eyes and stand up.

"I tried, Dean. People just ended up dead. Don't worry about paying for anything. It's on the house. I'm going home," she said as she shook her head and headed for the door. I sat for about a second more before I let out a sigh of annoyance and stood up to follow her out. I found her sitting on the curb watching the cars fly by at high speeds, almost as if she had a death wish.

"Do you got a death wish?" I asked as I grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up like she was nothing.

"Sure. Have had one for several years. Or until you showed up into my life," she replied with sarcasm as I rolled my eyes.

"Artemis….." But I stopped talking as my cell phone began to ring and I picked it up with annoyance as I knew it was my brother.

"What now, Sammy?" I asked.

"We have to use Artemis as bait." I froze at his words and looked over at Artemis as she gave me a questionable look. Bait? Use Artemis a bait? There was no way in hell I was about to let that happen.

TO BE CONTINUED…………..


	17. Chapter 16: Sweetest Sound Part II

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Author's Note****:** Hey guys! I'm so, so, so, so sorry for leaving you all to wonder when the next update would come. I've been extremely busy the last couple of weeks. So I hope this update makes up for it! I'm already working on the next chapter and hopefully it will be up within a day or so because it is the chapter that many readers have been waiting for as Artemis and Dean's relationship takes an unexpected turn with the curse becoming full blown. So keep watch for it! Enjoy!

* * *

**Sweetest Sound: Part II**

"You have got to be fucking kidding me if you think for one second that I'm going to allow you to use my little sister for bait, Samuel."

"She's not your little sister, Athena."

"She might as well be. I've known her since we were kids and I'm a year younger than your brother, so technically, she is my little sister. You have got to be fucking nuts to actually think I'm going to allow you to use her like that. She's not a toy, Sam."

"Athena……"

"Shut up, Artemis. It's bad enough I'm in this hunt like I am because of you. I told you I was done, but the second you show up, that's all out the window. Your parents will turn over in their graves if they knew I was going to let you be the god damn bait," she said as she turned her glare on me. My eyes narrowed and I gave her a severely dirty look I never gave to anyone, including Dean, but kept my mouth shut because I knew that if I did open it, it was going to be a full out war between the two of us and that was usually never good.

"Well how else do you expect us to take down this hunt, Athena? Let another girl get savagely mutilated?" Sam asked as she turned back to give Sam a glare. I heard Dean sigh, causing me to turn my head slightly to watch as he escaped unnoticed into the hallway.

"Probably going to raid my fridge again," I thought with a slight chuckle, hopping down from my seat and making the same exit as Dean had just seconds earlier as Sam and Athena continued to argue with Kiki trying to play mediator. Athena was probably going to win. If anything.

"I'm beginning to like your kitchen." I let out a chuckle as I hopped up onto counter and watched as Dean took several things out of the fridge before rummaging through my cabinets.

"Obviously. Throw me a granola bar while you're in that cabinet," I said, causing him to chuck the box over his shoulder before grabbing something and planting himself on a stool right next to me to make something eat. We sat there in silence for about a good five minutes before I decided to speak.

"Athena's not going to let me anywhere near that club tonight or whatever if you decide that I need to be the bait. She's like a mama lion or something when it comes to me and I'm not that much younger than her. Maybe four years if that," I said as I gave him a look. He snorted with laughter as he stuffed his sandwich into his mouth and taking a swig of beer before speaking.

"I agree with Athena," he said, causing me to nearly choke on my granola bar in surprise and had to gulp down about half the glass of water sitting next to me as I gave him a look of shock.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't think it's right having to use you as bait. I think Sammy's lost his mind," he replied, slowly as if talking to a child.

"Dean, if….."

"No ifs, ands, or buts, Artemis. It's too dangerous," he said, causing my eyes to narrow and give him an angry glare.

"Since when is our job not dangerous, Dean?" I asked.

"We're not using you as bait, Artemis. That's final," he said as he stood up with his plate and beer and began walking out of the kitchen. Scowling, I grabbed one of the sharp knives from the countertop and hurled it in his direction, nearly missing his head and sticking it into the door where he was about to put his hand. He stopped short and turned to me with a glare as I grabbed another one.

"Are you fucking crazy?" he snapped as he dodged the second one, plate and beer crashing to the floor as a third followed quickly.

"Do I look like I'm crazy?" I asked as I hit right on target and nailed Dean to the wall by the edge of his shirt with the fourth one I had picked up. He was about to say something but thought better of it when he moved his head to the left and gave the knife sticking out of the door where his head had just been a shocked look before he looked over at me as I grabbed another one.

"Sam!" he yelled, cursing as he tore himself away from the wall and hit the floor just as the knife flew into the wall. The cry for his brother brought Sam quickly into the kitchen, only to go wide-eyed and duck as another knife flew over his head and into the wall.

"What the hell, Artemis?" he asked as he peered around the island to me with a shocked look.

"She's gone fucking nuts!" Dean yelled, causing me to hurl another knife in his direction, which caused him to curse even further.

"What the fuck did you say to her? Artemis, stop it!" Athena yelled as she appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, giving me a stern look. The knife I had grasped in my hand was tempting to throw at Dean, but I slammed it down on the counter and grasped the island in front of me and glared at Dean as he and Sam staggered to their feet to look at me. Kiki peered around Athena and looked scared out of her mind as she stared at the knives I had thrown in my fury.

"What the hell was that all about, Artemis?" Sam asked as he stared at me like I had really lost my mind this time. I didn't blame him. Something inside me snapped at Dean's order. Or request. Or whatever the hell it was that he was trying to make me do.

"Stop. Treating. Me. Like. A. Child," I hissed as my eyes narrowed into dangerous slits at Dean.

"That's what the knife throwing was all about? Dean, what the fuck did you say to her?" Athena asked as she looked over at him.

"Me? I only told her I agreed with you in not using her as bait. It's too dangerous. Sam's lost his mind. She then proceeded to try and kill me with those god damn kitchen knives," he replied, causing Athena to look over at me.

"That's what this is about? Artemis, you know damn well that I won't allow you to be used as bait. Your mother and father would turn in their graves if something were to happen to you," she said, causing me to pick up the knife I had abandoned and throw it at her. She merely ducked and gave me a glare as she straightened herself out.

"Stop treating me like a god damn child! All of you! Just because I'm younger than the four of you doesn't mean you have to treat me like it! This job is dangerous and if I want to be the god damn bloody fucking bait, then so be it! I am not a toy or a child that you can throw or order around!" I yelled.

"It's too dangerous, Artemis! You're going to get yourself killed. Or yet, killed," she snapped.

"So be it! How many people have died because of me, Athena? How many more have to if I can't find the cure? I'd rather be dead right now than to let anyone else suffer!" I yelled, causing every occupant, including myself, to freeze at the words that spilled from my mouth. Sure I had hinted I wanted my life to end in every turn that we made coming closer and closer to certain endings in our hunts, but never had I physically said that I wanted to be dead. Straight up dead.

"Bloody hell," I whispered before I pushed away from the island and tore from the kitchen, leaving the occupants in their frozen state of shock. I myself was in shock, but I was more aware of what was happening as I slammed my bedroom door shut and locked it before sliding down to the floor, tears spilling without command. I let out a sob and shut my eyes as I let my head lay back against the door, tears spilling hot and heavy. What was happening to me? Just a year ago I was a hardcore ice bitch in search of the demon that had killed my mother and the cure for the curse that had taken away so many people in my life. But now the demon had slipped from my grasps and I just wanted myself dead. I had stopped wanting to look for the curse.

"But why?" I thought as I took in a deep breath to try to stop the tears that just wouldn't stop rolling down my face.

"Artemis!" I nearly jumped out of my skin at the pounding on the door that brought me from my thoughts, but then I realized why I was beginning to forget about the curse. Dean.

"Princess, open the fucking door right now! I know for a fact that you don't keep any weapon of any sort in your god damn room! So I know for a fact that you can't try to kill me other than trying to beat me to death, which you can't even do to begin with! Now open this god damn door before I break it in myself!" he yelled, causing me to just sit there and scoff. Who the fuck did he think he was?

"Alright! Fine! Have it your way then!" he yelled. I merely raised an eyebrow before shrieking and ducking my way out of the way of the door as I heard bullets slam against the door before it swung upon from Dean kicking it in. I sat up with a glare and was about to open my mouth when I felt myself crash land on my bed from where he had picked me up and thrown me onto it.

"What the hell is your problem?" I asked as I sat up and glared at him as he grasped the end of my bed frame at the bottom of the bed and looked at me, green eyes blazed with fire.

"My problem? We're just trying to keep you safe and you end up throwing knives at us! If anything you have the problem!" he yelled.

"I don't need to be treated like a child, Dean! I can make decisions for myself! I am 22 years old for bloody fucking sakes and you all are treating me like a child! I can make these decisions for myself and for you to tell me I can't do something that could stop the killing of these girls is fucking ridiculous! We've done more dangerous jobs in the past year that Kiki and I have been with you and Sam and now you're starting to worry about me getting hurt?! Who the fuck are you to tell me what to bloody do?!" I asked as my eyes locked with his and refused to look away.

"We're only looking out for your well-being, Artemis, and you know it! You said so yourself! Athena is the only one who knows you better than Sam, Kiki, and I put together and she is only looking out for someone she considers a little sister! What the hell do you think Sam and I would be feeling if something happened to you and Kiki? Huh? Sam and I have a responsibility to keep the two of you safe and you know it!" he snapped, causing me to get off of my bed and stalk toward him. Although he was over a foot taller than I was, I really didn't care at this point because I was pissed.

"Keep us safe? You have got to be joking me! I don't need anyone to keep me bloody fucking safe! I've been on my own since I was 8! You and everyone else around me think they know what's best for me and I'm sick of it! I can not do this anymore, Dean! I can't! I'm going to Helios tonight and I'll take care of the fucking bitch myself! You nor Sam nor anyone can bloody stop me from doing it! Maybe I'll end up fucking dead and I won't have to worry about letting people close and watching them die! It would make me a hell of a lot happier!" I yelled.

"By being dead? Artemis, do you have any idea what it would do to us if you were to die?" he asked, shock and hurt replacing his anger quite quickly.

"What do you fucking care for, Dean? You know that once this demon is found and killed I'm going my own way. I know I can't take care of this by myself, but I told you I was done once the damn son of a bitch was killed," I snapped.

"I care, Artemis. We all care. What is so wrong with letting someone close to you? Afraid we're just going to disappear forever like the people you had before in your life?" he asked, causing me to scoff and shake my head.

"You think you know everything there is to know about me, Dean, and you don't. I'm going tonight and you can't stop me," I snapped as I poked him hard in the chest before stalking out of my room and down the stairs. Sam, who had been leaning against the doorway into the kitchen as he conversed with Athena and Kiki, looked behind him and gave me a concerned look when he saw that it was me coming down the stairs. I merely shook my head and rounded the stairs to go out back. I had to have time to myself. I had to think. This was not good.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"Any sign of her?"

"None. You seriously think she came here?"

"Bouncer said he admitted her about an hour ago. Bartender says she ordered a beer and hasn't seen her since. Hasn't performed yet if that's what the two of you are asking." I gave my brother a dirty look but kept my mouth shut and took a sip of my beer as I knew that's exactly what Kiki and I were asking. Sam had gone to fetch Artemis after that little explosion between me and her and came out empty handed. Searching her room, the closet was destroyed and her bathroom torn apart, which led us to believe one thing. She had done what she said she was going to do and had gone to the club to draw the ghost out.

"Do either of them know what she's wearing?" I asked, causing Sam to nod.

"One of your favorite outfits," he replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"There are quite a few of those, smart ass," I said as he laughed.

"I know. But uh….denim jeans, bouncer says black converses, a black corset top, and her hair down," he said, causing me to nod. It was probably one of my favorites that she wore, especially when we were hunting because it made her sexy as hell. I was about to say something to Sam when the club quieting down caught my attention and the three of us looked toward the stage where a man, aside from the d.j., stood with a microphone in his hand.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"The owner," Kiki replied.

"Now I know a bunch of murders have been happening with some girls that have been here to Helios, but that does not mean we are going to shut down the bar/club. Helios has stepped up with the security and hopefully there will be no more murders," he said, causing cheers to ring throughout the club as the three of us looked at one another. Yeah right.

"So, although tonight is not open mic night, someone has persuaded me to have open mic night tonight. She is well known for her talent right here at Helios. She is your favorite singer when she's in town here in L.A.. Ladies and gentlemen, let's bring out Miss Artemis Summers." I sat up quickly and Kiki and Sam whirled around as Artemis appeared on stage to the loud cheers and cat calls coming from the crowd.

"It is a pleasure to have you back with us despite everything that has been happening in the last few weeks. Traveling treating you well?"

"It's been alright. Figured a little sun on the beach would do me some good," she said with a slight laugh.

"You seem a little blue tonight."

"Had a rough day. Figured a little drinking and little bit of dancing might wash all of that away," she replied with a nod.

"Well we won't keep you. Ladies and gentlemen, the ever fabulous Artemis Summers."

"She's going to fucking sing her heart out," I said as I watched the owner leave the stage and Artemis signal for a music cue or something. Whatever it was, the melody could be heard starting to blare from the speakers.

"We have to stop her," Kiki said as we began to stand, only to stop when Sam shook his head.

"Let her do it. Let her sing her heart out. It might make her realize what she's doing to herself when she comes face to face with that ghost," he said, causing Kiki and I to look at one another before sighing and sitting back down. Turning my head toward the stage, I watched as she raised the microphone to her lips.

_I'm strong  
__But I break  
__I'm stubborn  
__And I make plenty of mistakes  
__Yeah I'm hard  
__And life with me is never easy  
__To figure out, to love  
__I'm jaded but oh so lovely  
__All you have to do is hold me  
__And you'll know and you'll see just how sweet it can be  
__If you'll trust me, love me, let me  
__Maybe, maybe_

_Someday  
__When we're at the same place  
__When we're at the same road  
__When it's OK to hold my hand  
__Without feeling lost  
__Without all the excuses  
__When it's just because you love me, you let me, you need me  
__Then maybe, maybe  
__All you have to do is hold me  
__And you'll know and you'll see just how sweet it can be  
__If you'll trust me, love me, let me  
__Maybe, Maybe_

_I'm confusing as hell  
__I'm north and south  
__And I'll probably never have it all figured out  
__But I know what is I was never meant to walk this world without you  
__And I'll promise I'll try  
__Yeah I'm gonna try to give you every little part of me  
__Every single detail you missed with your eyes  
__Then maybe  
__Maybe, yeah maybe_

_One day  
__We'll meet again and you'll need me, you'll see me completely  
__Every little bit  
__Oh yeah maybe you'll love me, you'll love me then_

_I don't want to be tough  
__And I don't want to be proud  
__I don't need to be fixed and I certainly don't need to be found  
__I'm not lost  
__I just need to be loved  
__I just want to be loved by you and I won't stop 'cause I believe  
__That maybe, yeah maybe  
__Maybe, yeah maybe_

_I should know better than to touch the fire twice  
__But I'm thinking maybe, yeah maybe you're mine_

_Maybe, yeah maybe_

**"_Maybe" by Kelly Clarkson_**

I blinked and turned my eyes toward Sam and Kiki as they sat there stunned as the crowd went crazy. Turning his head toward me, I saw the same expression in Sam's eyes that was more than in my eyes. I wasn't really sure how to decipher what it was that she just sang, but no doubt that she had just spilled her heart out into the crowd. Spilled her wants but couldn't have the wants with the curse holding her back. Although I didn't know what it was she was cursed from, I was pretty sure it was holding her back completely.

"Dean…." But I was already up and weaving my way through the crowd before Kiki could even say what she wanted to say. Ignoring the stares and giggles coming from the girls around me, which would have me grinning and trying to get their numbers in seconds, I made my way around the stage to where Artemis was sitting on the floor with her back and head against the wall and her eyes shut slightly. They shifted open slightly as I approached her, but she made no movement to move as I sat down next to her.

"Pretty cool song," I said, causing her to shrug.

"I've got many. How long before that psycho ghost decides to show herself?" she asked, causing me to shrug in return.

"She seems to attack after the person leaves the building. You could leave now and she might attack you," I replied, causing her to nod and go to stand. However, I had other plans and forced to sit back down next to me.

"You could of just asked nicely," she grumbled as she gave me a look before placing her head on her knees, who eyes turned in my direction but looking out to the crowd that was hyped up at whoever was singing.

"That would of done no good and you know it. You would of not listened to me and you know it. Especially after this afternoon," I said, giving her a look. She merely shrugged and shut her eyes slightly.

"Artemis….."

"I didn't mean what I said earlier." I looked at her as her icy blue-green eyes locked with mine and I could swear I saw regret in her eyes.

"You were right. About us treating you like a child. You can handle more than any girl I know," I said, causing her to chuckle for a second before shaking her head.

"Not that. I didn't mean what I said about you and Sam. About not needing you guys. I need the two of you more than I probably need air, Dean. Even though I won't allow myself to admit it, I can't help it. I'm absolutely hopeless without the two of you. I thought I really had it all figured out on my own when it was just me and Kiki, but then you and Sammy walked into our lives and no matter how many times I threaten to leave when it's all over and such, I know I probably won't be able to. I doubt I will ever be able to leave you or Sam behind. It's like you've become part of me and I don't know whether to accept it or just ignore it," she said, causing me to chuckle.

"Well, as far as Sam and Kiki go, I seriously doubt you'll be able to get rid of us. I think they'll get married some time in the future when things are not screwy," I said, causing her to nod in agreement.

"I was a bridesmaid at Athena's wedding last year and let me tell you this. I will never ever wear a dress again," she said, causing me to give her a confused look.

"You do now," I said, causing her to roll her eyes and give me a pointed look.

"I feel comfortable in those types of outfits. This dress was horrible that Athena made me wear. Bright purple. I had nightmares for weeks on end," she said with a serious look on her face that caused me to laugh.

"Yeah. I don't think I can ever imagine you in a bright purple outfit. You wear some pretty strange combinations, but bright purple? Not a color on you," I said.

"Yeah. Obviously you agree with me," she said as I laughed.

"I'm sorry that I'm male. I just don't understand how you can not take compliments from guys like most girls can. It's like every time someone gives you a flattering comment, including me at the start, you would give the death glares and sometimes get really pissed off," I said as my laughter died down and was replaced with a serious expression. She gave me a look before sighing.

"Dean…."

"Artemis, I don't understand you. That comment you made earlier scared us into hell. It's like you really don't want to find the end to this curse and would just rather give your life up. Which by the way, I'm getting frustrated not knowing what this curse is," I said, causing her to sigh and run a hand over her face.

"Dean, you're really retarded if you can't figure it out by now," she said, causing me to growl in frustration.

"I hate you right now," I said, causing her to give me a wave of her hand and stand up.

"I'm going to look for the ghost. Coming? Or you going to watch me die? Wait. Don't answer that question," she said as she gave me a nod of her head and quickly disappeared into the crowd before I could stand up and catch her. Swearing up a storm, I stood up and scanned the crowd quickly before heading to where Sam and Kiki were talking back at the table.

"Artemis come by here?" I asked, causing them to look up as I approached.

"No. Did you see her after her performance?" Sam asked, causing me to nod.

"We talked for a short period of time. Come on. We need to find her before she really does something stupid. Any way of getting rid of the ghost?" I asked as we quickly hurried out of the bar/club. Kiki quickly talked to the bouncer at the door and we hurried in the direction he saw Artemis go in after she left.

"Kind of like the shtriga. We have to catch her in the act," Kiki replied, causing me to come to a stop and whirl around to look at her.

"What?" I asked.

"This isn't like all the other ghosts we deal with, Dean. This one doesn't play by the rules. You have to catch her in the act. This is one of the reasons Athena didn't want Artemis to go out and play with this god damn thing. With all the research Artemis did, she skipped the one major thing that was important. How to get rid of it," she replied as calmly as possible, causing my eyes to narrow.

"And none of you could tell her that when she was throwing god damn knives earlier?" I asked.

"How could we? She was so angry. And she tore out of the room like a fucking bat out of hell after she said she wanted to be dead. Dean….."

"She didn't mean it, Sam," I said as I cut my brother off.

"What?" he asked as if he didn't hear me right.

"Do you ever take anything she says lately that serious? No. She's frustrated. She's upset. She just doesn't know what to do anymore. And this curse. It's really getting on my nerves because she just won't tell us what it is," I replied, causing Sam to sigh. And I mean sigh, which meant that he knew something.

"Sam?" I asked, causing him to shake his head.

"Her place, Dean. You know that," he replied, causing me to growl in frustration.

"Dean, question her later. We need….." But Kiki never finished the sentence as we heard a gun go off not far from where we were standing. Looking at one another, we took off in the direction it came from as we knew it was Artemis. I knew the sound of her gun, her favorite guns that she carried on her when we were hunting, like I knew my car. There was no doubt that she had come into contact with the ghost. I only hoped we weren't too late.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"When I get my hands on you, Artemis Flora Summers, I'm going to wring your neck. You just signed your own death wish." I merely rolled my eyes and finished tying my converses up before adjusting my cell phone in order to hear better.

"I'm confused, Athena. I don't know what to think anymore," I said as I walked down the street, the music from the club slowly starting to fade the farther I walked from it.

"Here's a thought. Don't think anymore. You keep thinking and you're going to end up dead. Oh wait. You probably are since you went and did this stupid singing shit to draw that fucking bitch of a ghost out," she snapped, causing me to roll my eyes and shut my cell phone in order not to hear her anymore. Although I knew she was just looking out for me, it was really annoying at how over protective she could get. She sounded almost like Dean in a sense, although I probably would listen more to him than her since he didn't push it in the way that she did. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair and stuffed my hands into my pockets as I crossed the street and headed toward the empty parking lot alongside an abandoned street I had parked my car at in order for Sam, Dean, and Kiki not to easily find me if something horrible were to go wrong.

"Knowing Dean, he would find me no matter what," I thought as I shook my head. As I made to open the door, I heard a noise coming from slightly down the street and stuck my keys back into my pocket before putting my hand behind my back to my gun and heading in that direction. Turning my body and heading into the alley on my right, I took my gun from my jeans and cocked it, letting it hang at my side as I slowly made my way through the alley. I sensed someone behind me and I quickly turned around, aiming the gun as I did so, but there was absolutely nobody there. Watching a cat dart across the way, I let out a sigh of irritation and turned back around to the direction I was going, only to let out a scream as I was slammed against a wall.

"Bloody fuck," I hissed as I rolled out of the way of a huge dumpster coming my way and smashing into the wall. Catching a blurry like figure out of the corner of my eye, I let off several rounds of my gun before getting up off the ground and bolting for the exit of the alley way. As I made to round the corner, I slammed into somebody and immediately my defenses went up and tried to get out of the grips placed on me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! It's just me, princess!" My head snapped up to lock with concerning green eyes and I immediately stopped fighting when I realized that it was Dean.

"Bloody hell," I said as I threw my arms around his waist and buried my face into his chest.

"You alright? We heard gun shots going off," Sam said, causing me to nod before pulling back from Dean and look at him.

"You sure you're ok?" Dean asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. I just…I just…Something was in the alley. I felt someone behind me and when I turned around it was nothing but a cat running across the alley way. When I turned back in the direction I was heading, I flew into a wall and nearly got crushed by a huge bloody fucking dumpster. When I finished rolling out of the way, I saw a blurry figure out of the corner of my eye and let off shots from my gun," I replied.

"Blurry figure? Artemis, are you not wearing your contacts?" Kiki asked as she gave me a confused look.

"I can see just fine. Everything is crystal clear in front of me. It was the ghost," I replied.

"Rock salt do anything?" Dean asked, causing me to shake my head.

"I don't know. I ran like hell after shooting all the rounds in my gun," I replied.

"It wouldn't of done anything, Dean. The ghost has to be caught in the act to get rid of it," Sam said, causing me to give him a look of disbelief.

"What?" I asked.

"She was cremated, Artemis. The only way to get rid of her is to catch her in the act. Kind of like with the shtriga. We were going to tell you earlier, but you were to busy throwing knives and arguing with Dean. If you would of just listened to us for one second, you wouldn't be in this mess right now. You know that ghost is going to come after you no matter what," Kiki replied.

"There was nothing when I researched her. You only told me I would probably have to be the bait, Sam. Nothing about this," I snapped as I looked at him.

"We were going to, but you were having a fit and we couldn't get a word in edgewise," he said.

"Well it would have been great to know before I did what I did. What do you take me for? Stupid? Do you really think I meant a lot of what I said? Damn it, Sam! Why couldn't you just….." But I stopped speaking as I heard the trees around us start to pick up wind just slightly.

"Artemis?" Dean asked as he gave me a concerned look, but I merely looked away and turned my head toward the alley way. I wish I hadn't as a quick flash of white shoved against my chest hard, causing me to fly backwards and land quite hard on my back in the middle of the street. I groaned and struggled to get up as pain racked through every fiber of my body.

"Artemis! Look out!" My head snapped up and my eyes widened as a huge truck barreled my way with a loud honk. Trying to get up quickly, despite my pain, I let out a grunt as I tumbled back to the ground, arms wrapped around me tightly as pounding feet could be heard on the pavement coming toward us.

"Artemis! Dean! Are you guys ok?" My eyes snapped open and flew upwards as Dean lay with his back against the pavement, breathing heavily to catch air. His eyes opened as well and stared down at me with concern.

"You're going to get yourself hurt one of these days protecting me, Dean," I said as Sam and Kiki helped us off the ground.

"Sam would have my ass if I didn't. Come on. We have to get back to your place. It would probably be easier to deal with all of this if we actually had something familiar to work with. Come on," he said as he began walking to my car that he seemed to have spotted. Giving Sam and Kiki a look, I sighed and began to follow behind Dean. There really was no point in arguing with him. He was determined to keep me safe. Why? I wasn't sure. But something in me told me that it was ok. Was it?

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"What do you mean we're only to salt every window but the front hall?"

"Do you always have to question me like that, Sam? You know I'm usually right about these types of things! And besides, it's my bloody fucking house! You don't like my rules then you can just go kill this bitch yourself!" I merely shook my head and watched from my leaning position on the stairs as Artemis took them two at a time and headed into her bedroom.

"What are you looking for?" I asked as I leaned against the frame of her door and watched as she tore through the already mess of a closet in search of something.

"Something loose fitting. That way the ghost can't exactly have an easy time with me," she replied as pulled out a pair of sweatpants and put them on before continuing to look through her clothes.

"But I liked you in those clothes," I said with mock whining, causing her to laugh. I gave her one of my cocky smiles and she shook her head as she walked past me and into the room I was staying in.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I watched her shuffle through my bag.

"I really don't have anything loose to be wearing on my top half of my body. And your room is much closer than Sam's," she replied as she pulled a dark gray shirt out of my bag and pulled it on. I tilted my head slightly and stared at her as she made her way out of the room and back down the stairs. There was something sexy about the way she was wearing my shirt. My clothes.

"Wait. What?" I thought as I shook my head and followed her downstairs to the front hall where Sam and Kiki were setting up some things. I really had to stop thinking what I was about her. Something was happening to me and I wasn't really liking it. At least I don't think.

"Ok. So we know she can only be ridden of if you catch her in the act. How do we get rid of her? Rock salt? What?" she asked as she picked up a knife, only to have me snatch it from her and hand it over to Sam. She gave me a dirty look and I merely rolled my eyes.

"We don't need another kitchen episode," I said, causing her to give me a look before smirking.

"Doesn't mean I won't try it again in the future," she said, causing me to roll my eyes and shake my head. Leave it to Artemis to make a comment like that despite the circumstances going on at this point. One of which included a possibility of her getting severely hurt.

"Alright, you two. Save it for after we kill this bitch. God knows we didn't get enough show last night," Sam said, causing the both of us to turn a dirty look toward him. He merely rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing.

"We need to do something about those two. I'm about ready to put my foot up their bloody fucking asses if they don't stop nagging us about each other," she said as she turned to me with a look.

"I'm right along there with you. But it can wait until after we get rid of this bitch. Let's just hope we can get it on the first try," I said, causing her to nod. She was about to speak when the lights within the front hall began to flicker and the wind picked up increasingly outside. Looking around the room, I made to say something to Sam when I heard a heavy thud, causing me to whirl around just as Artemis shakily push herself up from being slammed against the wall.

"Artemis…."

"I'm fine, Dean," she said as she shoved herself up off the floor with a groan and rubbed her head.

"Salt the windows and doors that haven't been salted yet. The damn ghost is here already and we need to finish her off before she does real damage to Artemis," I said as I looked to my brother and Kiki.

"Wait. How the hell are we suppose to get rid of her? If we're suppose to get rid of her when she's gone in for the kill, how are we suppose to do it? She's a god damn bloody fucking ghost for bloody sakes," Artemis said as she dusted herself off and gave us all a look. Looking to my brother and Kiki again, I knew she was right. It was a dangerous ghost we were dealing with and as far as I knew, there was no other way to kill a spirit but salt and burn of its body or its contents.

"She turns human for a couple of seconds. We've only got one shot, Dean," Sam replied, causing me to look over at Artemis. She stared at me for a few seconds and I could see the fear in her eyes even though her face wasn't conveying it.

"Let's get this over with it," I said, causing her to nod and take a deep breath before speaking.

"Come on out, you scared little bloody bitch of a ghost! I know you're in here! I'm not as stupid as you may take me to be! Sorry that you got yourself killed by someone who stole your man's heart, but guess what? The bloody fucking world doesn't revolve around you and there is always someone else taking your spot! You're just sore because someone else has got better talent than you!" she yelled, causing me to snort with laughter as she shrugged. But the slight laughter didn't last long as Artemis landed hard on her back, gasping for the air that had been knocked out of her.

"Artemis…."

"I'm fine, Kiki," she rasped as she struggled to get back up, only to be knocked across the room and back onto her back. I immediately drew my gun as I saw a figure start to materialize in front of her, but my arm was slung down by Sam.

"You've got to wait until she completely materializes into human form, Dean. That gun isn't going to work on the spirit form. We have to wait for it to make its move," he said, causing me to give him a look.

"I'm not about to let her be hurt, Sam," I snapped as I drew my gun back up.

"Dean, you're only going to kill her if you don't wait until the spirit materializes into human form," Kiki snapped as she cocked her own gun, watching the spirit slowly move toward a barely conscious Artemis. I desperately wanted to get her out of there. Out of harm's way, but I knew that Sam and Kiki were right.

"If she gets hurt because of that damn thing, I'm killing the both of you right where you stand. I don't care if you're my brother of not, Sam. If that god damn fucking thing hurts one hair on Artemis' head, I will fucking kill you both," I said as I turned the gun directly into Sam's face. He seemed shocked for a split second before allowing his face to become neutral again, although I could see him swallowing with slight fear.

"The spirit will become human once she makes a mark on Artemis. Once she touches Artemis she becomes human as she takes out the lungs and heart before mutilating the body. This all happens in a matter of seconds, Dean, so we got to be quick," he said.

"I mean what I said, Sam," I said as I cocked my gun and pointed it back toward the ghost. However, I found myself sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs gasping for air as my gun sailed across the floor away from me. Looking slightly up, I watched as the spirit looked at me with a taunting smirk as it suddenly started to materialize into human form. I swore and struggled to stand up as blood slowly started seeping down Artemis's left side of the face where the ghost was running her fingers at.

"Sam!" I yelled as I saw my brother and Kiki struggling to stand up as well.

"She's not completely materialized yet, Dean," he replied as a small whimper escaped Artemis's lips but not much more. I scowled as I finally got my balance and grabbed a nearby knife to throw the second I got a chance to.

"Dean! She's creating some kind of force field or something around them!" Kiki yelled, causing me to turn my attention back to Artemis and the spirit as a bluish-white force field or something began to form around the both of them.

"She isn't playing by the god damn rules!" Sam yelled at me, causing me to scowl as I knew she was right. This was not by the rules as I nor Sam had never heard of something like this happening before. Or actually seen it for that matter.

"Dean! You have to do something before she bleeds to death!" Kiki yelled. I sighed and tightened the grip on the knife I had in my hand and before I could stop myself, I let it fly at the ghost and if I wasn't so worried about Artemis, I would have watched the spirit howl out in pain. However, my focus was on Artemis and I quickly rushed to her side, taking one of my layered shirts off and pressing it against her stomach where the spirit had decided to make a small incision before taking off the other one and placing it underneath her head.

"Dean." My head snapped down to her face as I realized she was still slightly conscious. I made to say something when I heard both Sam and Kiki's guns go off and a scream pierce through the house, causing me to turn my head upwards and watched as the ghost of Jessica Rein, who had graphically taken the lives of four innocent girls and almost Artemis's as well, scream and writher as she exploded. Ok. Well not exactly exploded. Vanished. Disappeared. All the same word for the fact that she was gone. Completely.

"Is she ok?" Sam asked as he knelt beside me and looked down at Artemis, whose eyes were wavering between open and close.

"We're going to need to get her to the hospital. She's lost some blood and she's wavering in and out of consciousness," I replied.

"I'll get one of the cars. Come on, Kiki," he said, grabbing Kiki by the arm and quickly heading out of the room toward the garage.

"You're not going to die on me, are you, Summers?" I asked as I gently ran a hand down the right side of her face where it wasn't busted or cut open.

"Who would you keep you sane if I died?" she whispered, causing me to chuckle.

"You're right on that," I replied.

"Hey Dean?" she asked.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Just because you strip slightly in front of me will not get you anywhere of getting into my knickers," she replied, causing me to give her a slight look of confusion before looking down at my bare chest and giving her a roll of my eyes as hers just glistened with amusement. Hurt or not, alive or dying, Artemis was still Artemis and I think I was falling in deep with her. Wasn't I?

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"I think Sam may have finally lost it."

"What do you mean?"

"He was crying last night and he just went out to talk to Dean. I think his father's death has really gotten to him," Kiki said, sitting in a chair in front of me as I sat on the window sill of the living room that looked out into the junkyard where I could see Sam and Dean talking with one another while Dean continued to work on the Impala. It had been about a week since we left Los Angeles and I was feeling much better than I had been a week prior. Athena wasn't happy I was going back to hunting as quickly as I was, but she knew that after what happened and even though I am still confused, the curse lay ahead of me that I needed to get rid of.

"At least he admits to his feelings though. Dean's a tough cookie," she said, causing me to sigh and give her a look as I looked up from a book I was looking through.

"Kiki, Dean's different than Sam. You know Sam and you know how he works. You don't know how Dean works at all," I said, causing her to give me a look.

"And you do?" she asked.

"In some ways, yes," I replied with a nod.

"Artemis…."

"Don't, Kiki. I really don't want to hear anymore about me and Dean. I'm confused enough as it is about what I want with my life. I don't need any of this "you and Dean need to get together" bullshit," I said, causing her to stand and shake her head.

"I will never understand you," she said, giving me one last look before leaving the room and heading up the stairs. Sighing, I flipped the page in the book and let my eyes wonder through the words.

"You should really tell him."

"Excuse me?" I asked as I looked back up from the book to see Bobby leaning in the doorway of the living room.

"Dean. You should really let Dean in on what's going on with you and that curse of yours," he replied.

"I don't have any idea what your talking about," I said, causing him to shake his head as he took the seat Kiki had previously been sitting in and looked at me.

"Artemis, I may be getting old in my age, but I'm not stupid. Dean may not be the brightest tool in the shed when it comes to stuff like this, but you have to tell him about your curse. If there is one thing I know about the Winchester boys, especially Dean, is that they usually don't express their feelings like Sam is now to his brother. And with that, it's very scary to see that Dean is falling head over heels for you despite the type of relationship you have with him. There is no doubt about it. Even though he won't say it or show it to you, I know the Winchesters and with Dean, you are not just some other girl," he said, causing me to sigh and place the book down as I looked at him.

"I can't, Bobby. I can't tell him," I said as I stood up.

"And why is that?" he asked.

"How do you tell someone that you think your falling head over heels for that you can't love them because they'll die if you do?" I asked, leaving him in completely silence for a few seconds before walking out the front door and down toward the Impala where Sam was just leaving and heading toward the house. I gave him a soft smile before continuing on my way where I saw Dean with a crowbar in his hand. I was about to say something when I jumped back with a slight shriek as Dean smashed a window of one of the cars and then began to beat on the Impala trunk. Never had I seen him act like this. I wasn't sure what to do as he tossed the crowbar aside and lean against the car, breathing heavily as he did so.

"Dean?" I asked, causing him to lift his head up slightly and look at me. I nearly broke at the sight in his eyes. Those green eyes were filled with so many mixed emotions that it just wasn't funny.

"Artemis….." But I merely cut him off as I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed the side of his face before burying my face into his chest despite the fact that he was all sweaty. It didn't even take a second before he wrapped his arms around me tightly and began to ran his fingers through my hair. It was comforting and it began to bring tears to my eyes. How was I to tell him? How could I tell him about the curse? Was I really falling in love with Dean Winchester?


	18. Chapter 17: Love Is Worth Words Part I

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Author's Note****:** This chapter is dealt into two and deals heavily with the relationship of Dean and Artemis as the curse comes fully to life. The hunt that will cause the curse to come out is similar in a sense to Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Hush." So the idea for the hunt doesn't belong to me. Enjoy!

* * *

**Love is Worth a Thousand Words: Part I**

"_Stay still or I'm going to make you stay still."_

"_I can't help it. I'm bored and restless. Sam and Kiki have been gone for more than the hour that they said they would be gone."_

"_Well draw or something. Anything but making movement that distracts me from this movie." I gave Dean a glare and smashed my pillow into his face before grabbing the remote from his hand. I grinned evilly and waved it in front of his face before hopping over onto Sam and Kiki's bed to face him. He gave me that famous death glare of his and held out his hand._

"_Hand it over, Summers, and you won't get hurt," he said, causing me to shake my head and change the channel to the nature channel Sam and Kiki usually watched while they were in the motel room, which Dean hated with a passion._

"_I'm warning you, Summers. Hand over the remote or you'll regret it," he said, causing me to stick out my tongue and wave the remote back and forth in my hand. His eyes narrowed more and I barely had time to move out of the way as he launched himself at me. I leapt off the bed and skidded around the table, causing Dean to stop on the other side and give me a smirk._

"_What?" I asked as I gave him a look._

"_Never thought I would see you backed against a corner with no way out but the way you went in," he replied, causing me to turn around and groan when I realized that he was right. Turning my head back toward him, I kept my face emotionless and neutral._

"_Hand over the remote, Summers," he said as he held out his hand._

"_Make me," I said, causing him to roll his eyes._

"_Artemis, give me the remote or you're going to regret it," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and lifted up the side of my shirt just slightly._

"_Not a chance," I said as I stuck the remote in the waist of my jeans on the side, causing him to smirk slightly as he shook his head._

"_That ain't going to stop me, princess," he said as he moved forward, causing me to back further away. However, my brilliant mind caused me to back right into the corner of the wall with absolutely no way out as he came around the table and stood in front of me with that damn smirk across his face._

"_Now, you can give me the remote or I can just take it from you in a way you're just not going to like," he said as he put his hands against the wall above my head and gazed at me with that smirk widened at every second that passed._

"_You don't have a chance of getting into my knickers," I said as I ducked and made my way out from beneath him, only to be tugged back with a small shriek as he easily laced his arm around my waist and pulled me back against him. I squirmed with irritation of being caught and it only made Dean laugh._

"_Stop squirming or I'll give you something to squirm about," he said, causing me to tilt my head back against his chest and give him a dirty look._

"_I'm not five," I said, causing him to chuckle._

"_You're acting like it," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and squirm a little bit more, only to stop at a shiver running down my spine. Very faintly was I aware that Dean's hand was brushing against some exposed skin at the bottom of my shirt._

"_You going to give me the remote or am I going to have to take it from you?" he asked against my ear, sending shivers down my spine once again, which caused him to chuckle as his hand moved lower. I couldn't think. He was taunting me._

"_If I didn't know any better, I would say you're enjoying my touch," he whispered, huskily against my ear. But before I could speak, I found myself slammed against the wall and Dean's lips on mine. I let out a small gasp and he took advantage of it, his dominance quickly overtaking me as I melted into his touch._

"_Fuck," I whispered as the touch of his fingers moving down my sides to bare skin just slightly above my jeans sent a shock wave through me._

"_You're sounding like a willing participant," he said with a chuckle, smirking as I gave him a slight glare._

"_Who said anything about being a willing participant?" I asked, only to let out a small whimper as he nipped slightly hard at my neck. He let out a chuckle and moved slightly until those damn green eyes of his locked with mine._

"_Had I known that that was going to drive you crazy, I would have thought of it a long time ago," he said with a smirk before biting at my neck again. I squirmed slightly, not totally use to the feeling, but I couldn't help myself as a small moan left my lips. Grasping the loops of my jeans, he tugged me toward him and I felt the comforter of the motel bed beneath me as he straddled my waist._

"_Just because you're on top of me doesn't mean I'm a willing participant," I said with a smirk, causing him to roll his eyes and lean down toward me so that our noses were almost touching._

"_You love it when I'm on top," he said, causing me to freeze in movement and let my eyes wander up until they locked with his._

"_Dean, I…."_

"_Let yourself be loved," he said as he lightly kissed the side of my cheek._

"_Dean…."_

"_Let me love you and let yourself love me," he said as his eyes once again locked with mine. They searched for any sign of joking or kidding within his, but saw nothing but passion and love beneath the blackening lust. He was serious._

"_I do." His eyes blinked in either shock or surprise as I let the words tumble out of my mouth before I could stop them._

"_Artemis…."_

"_I do want to. I do love you," I whispered as tears formed at the corner of my eyes, causing him to kiss me lightly on the temple as he gazed down at me with a half smile, half smirk._

"_I was wondering when you were going to admit it," he said, causing me to give him a look. I was about to say something when I saw a black cloth blowing behind him, causing my eyes to widen as he began to cough blood._

"_Dean? No," I said with fright as I struggled to sit up. I let out a strangle cry when I saw the black robed figure looming over us, blood seeping from a staff like item in its hand._

"_Your choice."_

"_Dean! No!!"_

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"I'm surprised you're not outside the motel room right now watching over your precious car. I thought maybe you would be wanting to get a room with it without us." I looked up from my dad's journal to give Kiki a glare as she and Sam sat with smirks on their faces as they shifted through websites to find us a new job.

"Shut the fuck up. I'd make a snide comment about the two of you, but it's no fun when the princess ain't up. Besides, Artemis hasn't slept very well in the last couple of nights. She's been up and down," I said as I glanced over to the beds where Artemis had thrown herself across one of them and had drifted off to sleep.

"Nightmares?" Sam asked as I turned my attention back to my brother.

"Sometimes. Other times it's just because she can't sleep. I'm starting to worry about her a little bit," I replied.

"Maybe the nightmares are so frightening that she doesn't want to sleep because she might have the dream again," Kiki said, causing me to shrug.

"Whatever it is, she'll sleep for days if she can get rid of it. Or them," I said.

"Well maybe we can figure out what she's dream….." But I held up my hand to stop him from speaking as I heard a noise. It wasn't a loud noise, but it was loud enough to catch my attention. Sam made to try and finish his sentence, but I stopped him from doing so as the noise came again. Turning my head back toward Artemis, I stood up as she let out another whimper and began to slightly fidget.

"Princess, wake up. It's only a nightmare," I said as I sat down on the bed and shook her slightly in hopes that she would wake up.

"Dean. No," she whimpered, causing me to furrow my eyebrows in confusion as I took in what had just escaped from her lips. She was having a nightmare about me?

"Dean! No!" I nearly fell off the bed in shock as she bolted upright in the bed, sweat pouring down her body as tears fell from her eyes like a waterfall. Whatever she had been dreaming really scared the shit out of her to be screaming like that.

"Hey, hey, hey. I'm right here," I said as I quickly got over my shock and wrapped my arms tightly around her. She fought against me for a second before realization sunk in and she grasped my shirt like her life depended on it, sobs racking her body like there was no tomorrow.

"Shh….it's alright. I'm right here. I'm right here," I said as I kept one hand around her back and let my other hand run through her hair, something of comfort that I had picked up on since we had been in the hospital for the "demon accident." Even though she probably didn't pick up on it herself, I found that running my fingers through her hair gave her comfort and calmed her down when she was angry or upset about something.

"You….you….died," she whimpered as her grip tightened just a little bit more. I stared up at Sam in shock and confusion, to which he merely shook his head.

"It's not a vision. I would have seen it if she had a vision or she was getting sharp pain in her head. It's a nightmare that she's had," he said, causing me to sigh and look down at Artemis. Something seriously scared her and I doubt I was going to get it out of her right now.

"Dean, maybe there is something in your dad's journal about something like this. Something that has to do with nightmares. Maybe she got hit with something or something," Kiki said, causing me to nod and made to stand up when Artemis's grip tightened even more on my shirt.

"No. Don't go," she whimpered as her head tilted up so that I could see the red-shot eyes of hers filled with tears. I gave a sigh and motioned for Sam to go get the journal. I really didn't need her getting anymore upset and if that meant that I would have to hold her and do everything in my power not to set her off anymore than she was, so be it.

"Dean…."

"You and Sam look through the journal and see if you can't find something in it. I'm going to try and get her to calm down and maybe try to sleep," I said, causing Artemis to shake her head and whimper.

"No," she whispered as she looked at me.

"Come on, princess. I'm right here. Nothing is going to get me and nothing is going to get you. I'm right here. I'll scare them away if I have to. You're going to be ok," I said as I slowly maneuvered her back toward the top of the bed so that we could lay down.

"Dean?" I gave my brother a look as he came into the room with dad's journal and shook my head before turning my attention back to Artemis, who clung to me like their was no tomorrow or something.

"Artemis, you got to let me go for a second so that I can get my shirt off. You know I don't sleep with my shirt on," I said as I kicked off my boots and looked down at her as she shook her head.

"No sleep," she said, shaking her head as I managed to get my shirt off and give her a look once again.

"No one is going to get you. I'm right here. And we don't have to sleep. We can just lay here. Alright?" I asked, causing her to shake her head and me to look up at Sam for some help.

"How about a glass of water, Art?" he asked, causing her to nod and him to go over to the sink to get the glass. I watched as he handed it to her and her suck down the entire thing as if she hadn't drank anything in a month or something. Handing it back to him, she curled against me and I ran my fingers through her hair again.

"Art, you should lay down," Kiki said, causing her to shake her head but yawn anyways, causing me to look over at Sam. He just gave me a look and held up the bottle of Excedrin, which made me realize he crushed and dumped one or a few Excedrin into her water to get her to sleep. Knowing Sam, he put a couple in the water so that she wouldn't wake up out of nightmares and would actually sleep.

"Come on, princess. You're yawning horribly," I said as I situated myself so that now we were both laying down. She made a protest and pushed against me so that she could move away, but I held tight around her waist until she merely gave up and let her head fall back against the pillows as she looked at me.

"We're just laying here, princess. Nothing more. Just laying here," I said as I pulled her close to me and let my fingers run through her hair again, causing her to protest slightly but give in after about a minute as the soothing feeling of my fingers in her hair started comforting her. She was fighting sleep and I glanced over at my brother as he began typing away on his computer, looking over at us every couple of seconds before catching my eye.

"She asleep?" he asked.

"Almost. Find anything in dad's journal?" I asked, causing him to shake his head.

"Kiki's looking through it right now. Something isn't right though. She's screaming your name as she's waking up from whatever nightmares she is having," he replied. I could only give him a look before sighing and looking back down at Artemis, who by this time was passed out once again, her breathing having simmered down to a light breath. Continuing to lightly stroke her hair, I sighed and rested my head on my pillow.

"I wish you would tell us what's going on in that head of yours," I thought before I lightly kissed her temple and began to drift off into my own sleep, the worry and confusion for Artemis lingering in my mind as I was lulled into a sleep. These next couple of hours were not going to be good if she woke up again.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

The sound of rain splattering against the window woke me from a dead sleep, my eyes fluttering open and trying to adjust to the dim, gray light that was seeping in through the half open curtains hanging across the windows by the door. Bones slightly aching and in need to put my glasses on so my vision wasn't blurry, I made to move to get out of bed and realized that I couldn't. Someone had their arm around my waist. I made to panic for a slight second, but then I realized that it was just Dean as he shifted in his sleep.

"I wonder why he's got his arm around me. That's so not normal," I thought as I made to get up, only to stop moving as his arm tightened around my waist and he growled just slightly. Sighing and knowing that I was not going to get anywhere with moving until he woke up, I shifted until I was comfortable. I was snuggled against his chest with my legs slightly curled and my face slightly buried in the crook of his neck. Don't know why, but it was just comfortable.

"Sam and Kiki went out for coffee. They'll be back soon." I tilted my head slightly as green eyes shifted open slightly and gave me a tired look. I merely shrugged and shut my eyes, the sound of the rain starting to slowly lull me back to sleep.

"They're also looking into your nightmares. Seeing if we can find anything that may be making you have them," he said, causing me to open my eyes and give him a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You don't remember waking up and screaming last night?" he asked, causing me to give him a confused look before racking my brain of last night's events. We were in Arizona right now just waiting on a job that would call our name. Dean and I had managed to get the Impala back up and working, which was great for us because it meant getting around to our jobs a lot quicker and Dean would stop bitching about the type of car we were driving since it wasn't the Impala. We had gone to a bar and I remembered hustling a couple of drunken idiots out of some money, making about 200 in cash, while Dean flirted with the bartender most of the night and Kiki and Sam looked into jobs for us to take. I remembered coming back to the motel and crashing. Then the nightmare.

"Bloody fuck," I said as I moved to get out of the bed, only to be pulled back by Dean.

"Not so fast, princess," he said, causing me to growl in annoyance and struggle to move out of his grip. It wasn't worth it because I just wasn't as strong as he was, which caused me to flop down on my stomach and give an irritated sigh of defeat.

"Artemis, look at me," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"No," I said.

"Artemis, I need to know that you're ok after last night," he said, causing me to give him a thumbs up, which caused him to sigh in irritation before giving a slight grunt from pulling me back towards him and using his arm, which I had pinned beneath me as I lay on my stomach, to turn me over to look at him. I tried to move away, but he just held tight, causing me to give up and just stare at his shirtless chest.

"Artemis, you scared the shit out of us last night. Especially me. What the hell were you dreaming about last night?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied, causing him to snort with laughter.

"Not likely. Especially since you woke up screaming "Dean! No!" last night at least two or three times. Then you told me that you saw me die. So bullshit to the nothing that you're trying to feed to me. Out with it, princess," he said as he tilted my head up so that our eyes locked. The intensity of his green eyes were driving me crazy and I could feel my wall just melting from around me.

"Dean, I…."

"I'm telling you that there was nothing that I could find. It's like the hunts are…..ops." My mind shattered and I would have tumbled off the bed if Dean hadn't grabbed me around the waist as I tried to get off the bed.

"Did we interrupt something?" Sam asked as he and Kiki stood in the doorway with confused looks written across their faces as they looked at both Dean and myself.

"No. I've been trying to get out of bed for the past couple of minutes, but your brother, even in his bloody fucking sleep, won't let me up," I replied as I gave Dean a dirty look. He merely returned it before looking at his brother.

"I'm trying to get answers out of her from last night," he said, causing me to dig my knee into his side, which caused him to yelp and let go of me. I took that opportunity and managed to get myself out of the bed and into the bathroom. Slamming the door shut, I locked it before sinking to the floor in fear, exhaustion, anger, and so many more emotions I just couldn't describe. I couldn't believe my nightmares had gotten the better of me and I had now gotten everyone else, especially Dean, involved in them. Knowing the three of them, especially Sam since he knew more than the other two, they would do everything and anything to make sure they got to the bottom of my nightmares to make them stop.

"Great. Just great. Of everything that I've been through, I had to bring them into the nightmares I call my world," I muttered as I finally picked myself up off the floor and turned the shower on. The warm water was soothing against my skin but I knew that I wouldn't be able to drown out my life of thoughts and worries without any interruption.

"If you use up all the hot water, princess, I swear that I'm going to make you regret it later!" Leave it to Dean to ruin the moment. Sighing, I shut off the water and wrapped a towel around my body and hair before opening the door to see Dean sitting on the bed talking to Sam and Kiki as they sat at the table on their laptops. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and gave me one of his famous smirks, but I merely gave him an emotionless expression as I dug through my bag for clothes.

"I'm going to take a shower," he said, a frown evident in his voice as I felt his eyes burning holes into my back before the door to the bathroom shutting behind him. I sighed and pulled out a pair of jeans and a simple black tank top.

"Artemis….."

"Sam, shut your eyes and keep them closed until I have at least my knickers and bra on," I said as I stopped him from saying what I knew he wanted to say involving myself and Dean. He gave me a strange look but merely nodded and shut his eyes tightly, causing Kiki and myself to giggle at his stupidity.

"We got any type of hunt going yet?" I asked as I pulled on my knickers and bra before proceeding to pull on my jeans just as the bathroom door swung open and Dean came out. He stopped and leaned against the doorway of the bathroom door, jeans lose on his hips and shirtless for now as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Having trouble with your clothes?" he asked, causing me to flip him off as I managed to button up my jeans and pull on my tank top before toweling off my hair and digging through my bag for a pair of socks to wear with my converses.

"So do we have anything?" I asked Sam as I sat on the messy bed that belonged to Dean and myself and pulled on my converses.

"Not yet. You can have a look if you want," he replied as he pushed his laptop toward me. Lacing up my shoes, I sat down at the table and began to type away on the computer as he got up and helped his brother put our things together so that we could leave in probably about an hour or so.

"You feeling better?" Kiki asked, causing me to give her a dirty look before turning my attention back to the laptop.

"I'm fine. Ask again and Sam's going to have to bury another girlfriend. Here you go, Sam. Seven people murdered in about two to three days in Utah," I said as I stood up and allowed him to take my seat to look at the computer.

"Could be a serial killer or something. Not exactly something up our alley, princess," Dean said.

"But it could be. Seven people were murdered 20 years ago in about two to three days in Hawaii. 20 years before that, seven other people had been murdered in about two to three days in Hawaii again. 20 years before that, seven more people in about two to three days in a small town in South Dakota. And another murder in Utah again. And another in Hawaii again. Nobody in any of these articles seems to know how the victims are dying or why, except for the simple fact is that their hearts were cut out from their bodies," Kiki said as she gave him a look.

"Couldn't hurt to check it out," Sam said as he looked at Dean.

"We've been itching for a hunt, so I agree with you. But where do we know it's going to strike next? As far as I heard, it only strikes every 20 years once," he said.

"It strikes at least twice. Two different towns. So it's got to be going for another town within Utah," she said as I nodded in agreement.

"Ok. So where do we head to next?" Sam asked.

"Annabella, Utah," I replied, causing everyone to give me a look.

"How do you know that?" Dean asked.

"Because all of these cities being attacked are the two lowest populated cities in the state. As far as I know, Annabella is one of the two lowest populated cities in Utah (I really don't know if that's true. I just saw a name on the list of cities of Utah and used it). It's bound to be next," I replied.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

"I'm almost positive. I'm usually never wrong," I replied, causing Dean to snort with laughter as I gave him a glare.

"There's a first time for everything, princess," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and smack him in the head as I zipped up my bag.

"Are you two going to behave on this trip?" Kiki asked, causing Dean and I to look at one another before looking back at both Sam and Kiki to shake our heads.

"No," we said, causing both of them to groan as they gathered their stuff and we loaded it into the newly redone Impala, thanks to Dean and myself, before heading off to Annabella, Utah to look into our new hunt. Placing my ear pieces for my iPod into my ears, I began to research a little more into this new hunt. Well, a new hunt if it had something to do with our style of hunting. At least I hope. It would take everyone's mind off of me for awhile. I hope.

* * *

"Remind me never to take your advice again and go on a hunt that really isn't a hunt whatsoever." Kiki rolled her eyes and I smacked Dean in the head as we walked into our newly rented motel room for the next couple of days. He gave us a glare, but we merely shrugged it off and took to grabbing our food out of the bag Sam had bought on our way in.

"Maybe it doesn't happen until night time. You know. Kind of like some of hunts," Kiki said as she tossed a cherry tomato out of her salad at me, causing me to crane my neck just slightly and catch it in my mouth before cracking open my own salad.

"We asked several people around town if there was anything weird going on in the town as of recently and they have all said no. So I don't think there is anything going on whatsoever," he said through a mouthful of burger. I gave him a look of disgust before leaning over toward Sam as he ate his burger and fries while writing things down on paper.

"What are you doing?" I asked, causing him to look at me for a second before looking back at the paper.

"I'm trying to figure out what all of these states have in common. It's only three states and Hawaii has been hit more than the rest. And they all occur in some random order, but it's the same order as it continues on," he replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow and take the paper and pencil from him.

"What are you doing?" he asked as I wrote a few things down.

"Looking at the beginning of each state. They all occur in the same order over and over. So I took the first letter of each state," I replied as I showed him.

"Ok. So what's that got to do with anything?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes and circle every four letters.

"They make up the word "hush." Maybe it's a clue," I replied as I showed them.

"Hush? That doesn't make any sense at all," Kiki said as Dean nodded.

"Not yet it doesn't. Maybe something will happen tonight that might reveal exactly what it is we're hunting or at least another clue as to what may be happening," I said, causing Sam to nod in agreement.

"I agree. So let's just sit back and relax and maybe we'll have some answers in the morning as to what we may be up against," he said.

"Or we can talk about what's going on with princess here. She still hasn't told us what's with the nightmares," Dean said, causing me to sigh and look down at my salad. I really didn't want to discuss this right now.

"Dean…."

"No. I can hardly sleep at night because she's having these nightmares and can't sleep. And then the other night she wakes up screaming my name and telling me that I've died? I want to know what's going on with her and what I've got to do with it," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"I don't want to talk about this right now, Dean," I said, causing his eyes to narrow.

"When would you like to talk about it, princess? When I'm dead?" he asked, causing my own eyes to narrow.

"What is it any of your business what I dream about? So I dreamed about you dying. So what? I've lost my appetite. I'm going to sleep," I said as I tossed my fork onto the table and stood up, kicking off my sneakers as I made my way over to one of the beds.

"That's right, princess. Keep running. We'll see what you're going to do when you've found yourself with no way out of a dead end," he said as I merely pulled on my night clothes and sat on the bed. I gave him another glare and flipped him off before crawling underneath the covers with a sigh. I knew he was never going to leave me alone about the oncoming nightmares. It was typical Dean. Flopping onto my stomach with a sigh, I knew this hunt was going to go wrong somehow and I knew it was only going to get worse between me and Dean. I knew it.

* * *

Artemis _Italics_  
Dean **Bold  
**Sam **Bold Underline**  
Kiki Underline

**Dean's POV**

I let out a grunt as something collided with my head rather hard three times in a row. Shifting my eyes open slowly, I let out a groan as Artemis had a pillow raised above her head once again and made to hit me with it yet again. However, I stretched my arm up and grabbed it before hurling it across the room before closing my eyes to go back off to sleep. I let out a sigh of relief when I felt the bed shifting to indicate she had gotten off the bed.

"That girl is going to drive me insane," I thought, letting out another sigh. However, my peaceful moment was interrupted again as the pillow she had gotten off the bed to retrieve slammed against my head once again. Opening my eyes and sitting up, I gave her a glare as she tossed the pillow into my lap before holding up a small marker board with the words "_Get up!_" written on it.

"Summers, you slammed the pillow against my head so that you can play a writing board game with me?" I asked. She raised an eyebrow for a split second before I realized that I couldn't hear my words. No. That was impossible. Was I deaf? No. Couldn't be.

_"Stop freaking the bloody fuck out. None of us have a voice,"_she wrote out on her board before she went to the table where Sam and Kiki where sitting and typing furiously on their laptops. She grabbed something similar to what she had in her hand and handed it to me before motioning for me to write something down.

"**What do you mean none of us have a voice?" **I asked as I showed her the board.

_"The entire town doesn't have a voice. Sam and Kiki went to get us coffee this morning and discovered they couldn't talk to one another. They thought it was something they ate until they actually got to the coffee shop and discovered that people in town don't have voices either," _she replied.

"**So we can't speak to each other at all?"** I asked before turning my attention to my brother as he held up another writing board.

"**Nobody seems to understand what is happening and the townspeople think that maybe it just might be a sickness or something**_,"_ he wrote out before giving me a look as I read his writing.

_"So what do we do? This is the only way we can communicate,"_ Artemis said as Kiki nodded in agreement to her writing.

"**I don't know. As far as I know, there is nothing really wrong here. Except for the fact that we don't have our voices**," he replied.

"**Well that's just great, Sam,"** I said before I collapsed against the bed and let out a sigh. I grunted when the pillow smashed into my face, causing me to sit back up and give Artemis a glare.

_"We need to do some things to figure out what's going on. You and Kiki are going to go into town to talk to some people to see if there has ever been any incidents like this before. Sam and I are going to go to the library to do some research,"_ she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"**You and Sam? You hate researching,"** I said.

_"It gets me away from you,"_ she said before she tossed her board onto the bed and disappeared into the bathroom with clothes in hand. I looked over to Sam and Kiki for answers, but they merely shrugged and went back to what they were doing. I groaned and placed my head in my hands. This was going to be a long day. I could feel it. About an hour later, Kiki and I dropped Artemis and Sam off at the library before heading off into the center of the small town.

"**So exactly what are we wanting to ask people?"** I asked as we made rounds to different places to talk to different people of the town.

"I don't know. Sam said to just ask if they know what is happening. So far, no luck because nobody seems to know what is going on. Some people just think it's some kind of flu epidemic or something like that with illness," she replied as we gave up about half an hour into our asking since everyone seemed to have just about the same answer as the next. We settled for sitting on the curb next to the Impala with coffee until Sam text messaged us if he and Artemis found something.

"**Flu epidemic my ass. This is worse than Artemis' lying,"** I said, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Leave her be, Dean. You know how she is if you keep pushing her. She'll tell you when she feels she's ready," she said, causing me to growl in frustration.

"**Let me guess. I'm the only one that hasn't been told or even come close to figuring out what the hell is going on with her. It has something to do with the curse, doesn't it?" **I asked, causing her to sigh and nod.

"She will tell you if you stop bugging her, Dean. But if you haven't figured out by now what this curse is, you're an even bigger idiot than I really thought you were," she replied as she shook her head. I merely stared at her before giving her a dirty look.

"**I'm sick of being left in the dark and the fact nobody will tell me what's going on with this whole curse thing has gotten on my last fucking nerve. How can I keep her safe if I don't know what is fully going on? You know what? If she fucks up, then I'm not saving her ass this time. You and Sam can deal with it. Get in the car,"** I said as I stood up and made my way to the driver side of the Impala. I saw her want to object, but she merely shut her mouth and got in with the look I was giving her. Starting the car up, I peeled away from the curb and headed toward the library where Sam and Artemis were. I was agitated with all three of them, especially Artemis. I was always risking my own ass to save hers and she was closing herself back into that wall from me. I wasn't a fucking idiot, but it was driving me crazy to know that she was closing into that wall again and leaving me, of all people, in the dark from what was haunting her.

"I just hope you know what you're doing to yourself. And me," I thought with an irritated sigh.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"You need to tell him." I blinked a few times before picking up the writing board Kiki had dropped on top of my sketch pad I had been drawing in since we had gotten back to the motel. I looked up at her and merely raise an eyebrow in question. She sighed and took her board back before dropping it back into my hands after writing something on it.

"He's really upset, Artemis, that everyone around him knows what is going on with this curse and he doesn't. Well, I only know so much, but still. He's really upset," she said, causing me to sigh.

"_I can't and you know it,"_ I said, causing her to shake her head in disbelief.

"I'm going out with Sam for some dinner. We'll be back in about an hour with something for you and Dean. Dean's in the shower. Talk to him when he comes out," she said before grabbing her jacket and heading out the door to Sam, who was waiting in the Impala. I sighed as I heard the engine come to life and then nothing but silence besides the water from Dean's shower. Looking back to my drawing, I tilted my head slightly before a small blush crept along my neck when I realized that it was a picture of Dean once again that I was drawing.

"I'm losing my focus with him," I thought as I threw my sketch book across the room and flopped down onto the bed. It was true. I had no real power left in me to defend myself against Dean. Verbally that is. My emotions were starting to get in the way and my thoughts of him were confusing me to no end.

"**Stop thinking so hard. You'll hurt yourself."** I jumped slightly out of being startled as a board once again landed in front of my face. I looked up at Dean with a slight glare before throwing the board across the room and curling beneath the blankets. I heard him sigh before I felt the bed sink slightly and the blankets removed from my head.

"**Stop acting like a brat,"** he said, causing me to give him a glare that fade away when I noticed there was no harshness in his eyes. There was a mix of emotions there, but there was no harshness whatsoever in his eyes. Confused, I sat up and grabbed my board from the side table.

"_Are you feeling ok? You said something fucking mean but there is no harshness in your eyes to back up your words,"_ I said, causing him to blink and stare at me before shaking his head and rearranging himself so he lay flat on his stomach next to me, his head turned toward the other bed next to us. I frowned and gently prodded his side with my foot, only to have him merely give me a glare before turning his head back toward the bed.

"_And you say I'm acting like a fucking bloody brat. Looked in the mirror lately?"_ I asked, gently straddling his back as I leaned down to show him what I had said. He stared at it for a second before erasing what I had written and wrote something of his own. I stared at the writing before bursting out laughing. Although my laughs couldn't be heard, the shaking of my body caught his attention and he rolled his eyes.

"**For once you didn't chew me out for saying something rather inappropriate. I just don't get you,"** he wrote as I started laughing harder, causing him to roll his eyes before easily flipping himself onto his back beneath me. I stopped laughing as I felt his green eyes bore into me, causing a blush to creep slightly onto my face as my eyes locked with his. It seemed like forever that passed and if I hadn't been too caught up in anticipating his next move, I would have seen the smirk that slowly crept onto his face. I noticed it all too late and found myself on my back with his face hovering centimeters from mine.

"Laughing at me isn't something you should be doing," his lips read, causing me to raise an eyebrow before wanting to protest. I made to move quickly, but his hands held me in place and I felt my thoughts leave as I was swept up into a mind-blowing kiss. I don't know what happened, but my body kicked in over my mind as my arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him closer. His need for dominance over powered mine as his hands traveled down my body and crept slightly beneath my tank top, causing me to let my head fall back with a slight gasp as his touches sent indescribable shocks through my body. I felt like my entire body was on fire with every touch he made and every kiss he gave as he began to kiss down my neck.

"Oh god. What's happening to me?" I thought as I let my head tilted up slightly to lock with his eyes. They were black with lust and it sent a shiver down my spine as he soaked in every little reaction from me with a smirk. As he bent his head down to capture my lips against his once again, he froze and looked up. Confused, I let my eyes travel up and allowed my head to tilt back slightly to the door where both Sam and Kiki were standing in the doorway with looks of shock and amusement written on their faces. Dean's head dropped into the crook of my neck before he pushed himself up off of me and got off the bed to head toward the bathroom. Hearing it slam shut, the wheels in my head began to process what was happening and tilted my head back once again to give Sam and Kiki a death glare.

"_You two have impeccable timing,"_ I said as Sam gave me one of his cheeky grins and set the bag in his arms on the table before grabbing the board from my hands.

"**Did we just walk into something that you were enjoying**?" he asked with a teasing smirk on his face. I gave him a glare and flipped him off.

"_I'm still processing it all. Fuck off,"_ I said before I flipped off the bed and looked into the bag Sam had set down. Seeing a salad in there, I gave a nod of thanks to Sam and sat back down on the bed, ignoring the looks from Sam and Kiki and eating my dinner as Dean came back out of the bathroom wearing jeans and a towel wrapped around his neck. I gave him a look, knowing what he had to do after what had happened, and gave him a smirk as he looked in my direction, causing him to give me a glare as he flipped me off. I merely shoved salad in my mouth and flipped him right back off. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other two watching us intently, but I merely ignored it as I finished off my dinner before curling beneath the blankets to try and sleep.

"Yeah right. Like that's going to happen after what just happened," I thought with a shake to my head and a sigh. My brain was trying to process what had happened between me and Dean. It was like my mind and body just completely gave in. I was totally confused and I didn't know what to do about it. I knew I couldn't let him get close and allow him into my heart, but Sam and Kiki were right. My mind and body were starting to catch up with what they had been telling me weeks before. Dean Winchester had weaseled his way into my heart and I was falling hard for him. It was getting harder and harder to cope with the curse, especially with the nightmares I was beginning to have, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep Dean away from me much longer with the state my emotions were in. There was no doubt about it. My heart and emotions had caught up to me and there was no denying it. I, Artemis Flora Summers, had fallen head over heels for Dean Winchester.


	19. Chapter 18: Love is Worth Words Part II

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

* * *

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Author's Note****:** I'm so sorry for not updating as quickly as I normally do. I'm really sorry for keeping you all waiting but I've been visiting my grandparents in Ohio this summer and I haven't had a lot of time. Plus I just moved into my dorm at college and have started school already. But here it is at last. The chapter everyone has been waiting for. Hope you all enjoy it. And I've posted some pictures in my profile to kind of aid some visionary to the story. More will be posted as the chapters go along as well as the two stories in the works to be attached to this one. Enjoy!

* * *

Artemis _Italics  
_Dean **Bold  
**Sam **Bold Underline  
**Kiki Underline

* * *

**Love is Worth A Thousand Words: Part II**

"**That was just gruesome****.**"

"What did you find?"

"**Hearts cut out of their body****.**" I gave a shudder at Sam's words and did everything possible to keep any type of image of hearts being ripped out of someone's body from my head. Kiki and I had read in the paper about the attack, or attacks since seemingly there had been more than one, and had sent Sam and Dean to investigate it. One because they could pull off the whole cop act and two, I really wasn't for the whole mutilation thing. Even though I was a tough girl and had seen my share of attacks and whatnot, heart mutilation I couldn't stand.

"How many?" she asked, bringing me back into the conversation taking place.

"**Three. One was a teenage kid. The other two were actually a couple. Don't know which was first, but I would say the husband based upon the way their bodies were,"** Dean replied, causing me to give him a confused look as he approached us with a hand carton of coffees.

"_What do you mean?"_ I asked as I gratefully accepted the coffee and set my sketch book, which I had been finishing the drawing of Dean from the night before while Sam and Dean had been investigating, down on the hood of the Impala so that he had most of my attention.

"**Husband was downstairs while the wife was at the top of the stairs. I'm assuming that the husband must of heard some kind of noise downstairs or something and went to investigate it. If by what Sam and I saw on the inside of the house, it shows that he put up some kind of struggle,"** he replied.

"_Things broken?"_ I asked, causing him to nod.

"**Yeah. Couple slams into the wall it looked like as well,"** he replied.

"_So husband hears noise downstairs or something and goes to investigate. Whatever or whoever it is he hears attacks him and he puts up a struggle as indicated by things being broken and the marks along the wall. Enter said wife. She probably hears the commotion going on and goes downstairs to investigate. If you said she was found at the top of the stairs with her heart cut out like her husband's, then it means that whoever was cutting the heart out of the husband's body must have been done or nearly done when the wife decided to make herself known. I'm assuming she only got to the top of the stairs before they got to her too,"_ I said as Sam nodded.

"**That would seem to be the case****,**" Sam said.

"So what do we do? We don't really have anything to go on. Nobody saw or heard the attacks happening," Kiki said.

"**You and I will go to the library while Artemis and Dean try to get information out of the townspeople. Maybe see what kind of people the couple and teenage kid were. Maybe there was a reason behind them being targets**," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"_Dean and I will go to the library to do the research. You two go and talk to the townspeople about the incident. Dean and I need to talk with one another about some things. This would be a good opportunity to do so," _I said, causing Dean to raise an eyebrow in questioning, but he didn't say anything as Sam and Kiki merely shrugged. I could tell that Sam had an idea about what was going on, but he knew better to say anything and I was grateful for that. About half an hour later, we left them to do what they needed to do while the pair of us headed to the library, in which we piled ourselves with several different books pertaining to the supernatural.

"**So we need to look through all** **of these books until we come across something that is similar to what is happening to these people and their hearts?"** he asked as I sat on the top step of a step ladder and pulled another book off one of the top shelves.

"_In a way, yes. But maybe we can look at the clues and evidence that we've got since the start of this thing,"_ I replied as I tossed another book to him.

"**Like what? The only thing we got is that stupid thing you and Sam came up with the first night we were here. All we got is "hush" and that's it,"** he said, causing me to roll my eyes before dropping another book onto the table and getting down off the ladder to sit across from him.

"_We also have the way that the hearts had been cut out of the body. You said that it was pretty much like a clean cut, right?"_ I asked, causing him to nod.

"**Almost like a surgeon did it or something,"** he replied.

"_So we have some kind of supernatural thing that, instead of clawing or eating out the heart, actually cuts the heart from the body in a clean cut as if it were a surgeon. It doesn't make sense. I will agree on that. But Kiki wrote this down this morning. Said she had some kind of silly dream of a little girl standing in a hallway with a box in her hands and singing some kind of nursery rhyme,"_ I said as I produced a piece of paper out of my pocket and showed it to Dean.

_Can't even shout, can't even cry  
__The Gentlemen are coming by.  
__Looking in windows, knocking on doors  
__They need to take seven and they might take yours.  
__Can't call to mom, can't say a word  
__You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard.  
_(Buffy Episode "Hush")

"**Kiki had a dream about this? What's it suppose to mean?"** he asked, causing me to shrug.

"_I don't know. That's the thing. She usually never has nightmares or dreams that pertain to the supernatural and it's really strange that she is doing so now. Do you think that their could possibly be a connection between the rhyme and what's happening now?"_ I asked.

"**Could be. I mean, the whole "can't even shout, can't even cry" is pretty much on target with the last line about death in the sense that nobody would hear you when you're screaming. If nobody heard the screams of the couple and the teenager while their hearts were being cut out, which I would assume they were wide awake when it was happening, I would say this nursery rhyme definitely fits our case. What I don't get is the seven. Seven what?"** he asked.

"_You think it could mean hearts? I mean, three hearts were taken last night and if I remember correctly in the couple of articles Sam and I found on the internet with the other towns, seven hearts were taken from seven random people in those towns," _I replied, causing him to nod slightly in understanding.

"**The only thing that's bugging me is we don't have a real lead to this case. It's irritating me more than Sam and Kiki have been within the last couple of days,"** he said, causing me to run a hand over my face and sigh before carefully picking my words for him.

"_They are only looking out for us, Dean,"_ I said, causing him to shake his head in disagreement.

"**I disagree, princess, and they are really starting to bug the fuck out of me,"** he said.

"_They are only going by what they see. Dean, something's happening to us,"_ I said, causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"**What are you going on about, Artemis?" **he asked.

"_Look at us, Dean. Something's happening to us and it's really starting to freak me the bloody fuck out. Last night, it…it…"_

"**It what, Artemis?"** he asked, causing me look away for a second before looking back at him, tears starting to develop in my eyes.

"_I don't know what's happening to me, Dean. All these nightmares and these urges that were never there before are starting to really scary me. It's like my entire mind and body doesn't know what to think or do anymore. It's scaring me, Dean, and I don't know what to do about it,"_ I replied, causing him to give me a confused look before running a hand over his face and sighing.

"**Let it flow. Whatever happens, happens. Life is like that. I've given up trying to figure you out, Artemis. Especially when it comes to this curse. I'm pissed off that you won't tell me even though everyone else seems to know what is going on, but I guess maybe Kiki's right when she said I have to let you come to me first. You have too much control on what is happening in your life. Let it go. Let it flow like it's actually suppose to,"** he said, causing me to shake my head.

"_Carelessness has cost me in the past, Dean. I can't make that mistake with you," _I said, causing the look of confusion to come full blast across his face this time.

"**What are you talking about?"** he asked, causing me to shake my head and pick up one of the books up off the table. I could feel his eyes locked on me and burning holes through me in so many emotions that I couldn't pick one to just tell you about, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him. I knew I had fallen head over heels for him, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him that. I didn't want to see him go like I had my father and my last boyfriend. He was needed here. His brother needed him more than anything and I just couldn't take that away. Right?

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"**Where's Artemis**?" I blinked for a split second before tearing my eyes away from the television set to look at Sam as he gave me a worried look.

"**Outside on the hood of the Impala the last time I checked,"** I replied, causing him to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"**And you're not outside yelling at her for possibly denting or scratching up your precious baby**?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes at my brother.

"**Artemis could never put a dent in the Impala just by sitting on it. She usually has to put her mind to it to even get a small dent in it. Besides, she wanted some time to herself and I'm letting her have it. Her "talk" with me at the library while we were researching didn't go very smoothly. I take everything negative I said about worrying about her and not jumping to her aid when she finds herself backed into a corner without escape. I'm worried about her, Sam," **I replied, causing him to nod in agreement as he sat on the edge of the bed I was sitting on.

"**You're not the only one, Dean. I swear I wish I could tell you what is going on with her and what is going through that mind of hers, but she's got to tell you on her own terms. I would hate to see what you would do if I or Kiki left something out by telling you before she did. As for what may be going through that mind of hers, I really have no clue because she doesn't talk to me anymore like she did before. It's like she's trying to rebuild that wall she had up before we met her or something****,**" he said, causing me to sigh and run a hand across my face.

"**I'm going to take a shower. Leave her be for a while,"** I said before I got up and headed for the bathroom. Letting the water hit me, I let out a frustrated growl and leant my head up against the wall. That girl was driving me insane, but I wasn't exactly mad. Frustrated I was, but not mad. For some reason, it just wasn't easy for me to get mad at her anymore.

"It's like I've fallen for her or something," I thought as I shut off the water and dried myself off before putting on a fresh pair of boxers and jeans. It was a thought that invaded my mind almost frequently, especially in the last couple of days and especially with the moments that have happened between the two of us. As Artemis had said earlier about her being confused, she wasn't the only one. I was more than confused about what I was feeling for the feisty English girl that had invaded mine and Sammy's world of hunting over a year ago. For the most part I had wanted to throttle the girl, but now it was different. She talked so many times about leaving, but I really wasn't sure if I was ready to let her go out of my life.

"**You hungry? Kiki and I walked over to the local pizzeria and picked us all up some pizza,**" Sam said, causing me to shake my head and head outside where Artemis was still sitting on the hood of the Impala looking up at the sky. Hearing me approach, she tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow in question.

"**What?"** I asked.

"_You have no shoes on and you're shirtless. Did you just take a shower and decide not to get fully dressed to come outside to bug me?"_ she asked, causing me to shake my head before allowing a smirk to slide onto my face.

"**I was thinking about coming out here in absolutely nothing at all, but I thought better of it because I didn't think you'd appreciate someone other than yourself seeing me in absolutely nothing,"** I replied, causing her to roll her eyes but fight hard to keep a smile from forming on her face. I snickered and poked her in the side, causing that smile to form genuinely on her face with no problem at all.

"_Why are you out here other than to bug me?"_ she asked.

"**I was thinking about earlier when we were in the library. I think I've come to a conclusion,"**I replied, causing her to raise an eyebrow in question but a faint smirk to play on her lips as she showed me what she wrote.

"_Dean Winchester has come to a conclusion on his own? Holy fuck. Write it on the calendar," _she said, causing me to give her a mocking dirty look before shaking my head at her antics. At least she was somewhat herself.

"**Listen here, smartass. I can come with any type of conclusion if I wanted to. You just might not like my answers,"** I said, causing her to roll her eyes as she knew what I was getting at by saying that.

"_Seriously though. What are you doing out here?"_ she asked.

"**I don't think you're alone in being confused and scared, Artemis,"** I replied, causing her to give me a look of full blown confusion.

"_What are you talking about?"_ she asked.

"**Something is happening to us and it's not just you that's feeling it. I'm confused about what is happening to us. I don't really feel the need to throttle you as much as I wanted to when you and Kiki first started hunting with us. We're two different people with two different hunting styles for the most part, but yet we're so similar. And I just don't know what is happening to us anymore,"** I replied, causing her to tilt her head slightly to look at me. I knew she was looking for any sign of joking or bullshit in my eyes, but she wasn't going to find anything but seriousness in my eyes. For the first time in my life, I was being open and honest about what I was feeling inside of me. And with Artemis of all people.

"_You're not kidding, are you?" _she asked, causing me to shake my head in response.

"**No. I seriously wish you would tell me what is going on with you and this curse, but I've gotten nowhere with you about it. So I'm done fighting you on it. But I will agree with you that something is happening between us and I'm really not sure if I can let you go out of my life at all,"** I replied, causing her to look at me with a shocked expression. At this point I was really wishing that we had our voices because writing on a board just took forever and at this point, she hadn't written anything at all on her own as she stared at me with so many emotions running through those beautiful eyes of hers.

"**Usually this is where you say something back to me,"** I said, causing her to blink and stare at me for a split second more before I sensed what should have been a chuckle out of her.

"_Who are you and what have you done with Dean Winchester?"_ she asked, causing me to roll my eyes and give her a look.

"**I'm trying to be serious, Artemis,"** I said.

"_And so am I, Dean. You don't ever share what you're thinking except maybe when it's something perverted or sexual. I know this first hand. This is not you and even you know that,"_ she said, causing me to sigh.

"**I'm not even going to try and get through to you. I'll just wait until you get drunk and take advantage of you for it. I'm going inside to get something to eat. Sam and Kiki got us pizza. Come inside,"** I said as I gave up trying to talk with her, which I didn't blame her for. If there was one thing that both of us were just too similar with, it was the fact that we knew nothing but speaking sarcasm and being smartasses with one another. The niceness and the concern was just a slip of the tongue or subconsciously. I think.

"_I'm not hungry. I just want to stay out here a bit longer. I've got my room key," _she said as she pulled the key from her pocket and dangled it in front of my face. Making a grab for it, she pulled it just out of my reach. However, she leaned too far back and would have fallen off the Impala had I not reached out and caught her before she fell to the ground. Sitting her back upright, I felt her let out a sigh and run a hand over her face as she shifted herself until her eyes locked with mine. I backed up slightly as I saw the tears threatening to fall, but that wasn't what I was backing up from. A flash within her eyes caused them to go completely ice like, which scared me just a little bit. However, before I could even get a chance to say something, she was up and running across the parking lot, leaving me to stare after her in bewilderment. I was completely lost as to what was going on with her, especially since she just took off.

"Aww man. Sam's going on to have my fucking ass," I thought as I shook my head and headed inside. I knew it was best to not go after her and just give her some time to cool down before worrying about whether or not she was going to return ok or not.

"**Where's Artemis****?**" Sam asked as I threw myself into a chair across from him at the table and picked up a slice of pizza from in the box.

"**Taking a walk. Wasn't liking the fact that everyone kept bugging her. Needed to cool herself down before she came back inside. She's got her key, so leave her be,"** I replied, causing both Kiki and Sam to look at one another in confusion before looking at me with the same confusion as well as concern.

"**Dean, she shouldn't be walking by herself. It's dark out and these attacks happen at night time. Who is to say that she won't get caught up in it****?**" he asked, causing me to give him a look.

"**If she isn't back by the time I'm ready to go off to sleep, I'll go out and look for her. By then she should probably be cooled down and ready to come back to the motel to sleep. Alright?"** I asked. They looked at me for a second before merely nodding and going back to their food. I knew they weren't convinced about the whole situation, but they clearly knew to just back off so that I didn't get pissed off. I was worried about Artemis just like they were, but I knew that she just needed her space. She was clearly confused with herself and what was happening. Hell. I was too. I wasn't sure, but I think I was falling in love with the bitch and that was something I never admitted about any girl. Actually, scratch that. I was definitely head over heels in love with Artemis.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

I ran a hand over my face in frustration as I let my feet sway back and forth with the motion of the swing I was sitting on at the moment. After I had bolted from Dean in the parking lot of the motel, I had come upon the park that was not far from the motel and collapsed onto one of the swings in order to collect my thoughts before they got too far away from me that I couldn't fix them.

"It's not like I haven't fixed enough problems with my life up to this point," I thought as I let out a sigh. It was true. I had fixed a lot of problems with my life, but this problem with Dean I just wasn't sure how to fix to be honest. I knew I was falling in love with him, but how to fix the problem that would come with admitting it was a whole other story. I just wanted to be able to speak my mind without the pending consequences following the words.

"Easier said than done," I thought with a shake of the head and a chuckle. Looking around the park, I let out a sigh of content as the wind slightly nipped at my face as it rustled its way around me and the area of the park. It was nice to get my thoughts together without worrying about people being around. It was harder that way. Looking at my cell phone, I realized that it was well past midnight and that I had been here for over an hour and a half and knew that I needed to get back to the motel before Dean, Sam, and Kiki jumped down my throat about being out so late, especially with the simple fact of the killings that were taking place around the town.

"Dean would rescue me though if I got myself into trouble. He always does," I thought as I gave myself another push on the swing before hopping off and stretching myself out. As I made to twist my upper part of my body toward the back of me, I caught the sight of something black and white not far off from me. Turning my head slightly, I saw whatever it was coming toward me.

"What the bloody fuck?" I thought as I ran a hand over my face before peering across the pathway to whatever it was that was coming toward me. However, my eyes widened as I realized whatever it was that was coming was floating about a foot off the ground and there were monkey-like things in what looked like untied strait jackets. And there were two of each coming straight for me with these stupid grins plastered on the things floating above the ground. Not wanting to stick around to see what they wanted, I took off in the opposite direction and headed toward the motel. However, whatever the bloody fuck those things were, I didn't get so lucky of escaping them because as I slowed my pace upon reaching the parking lot, I heard a pitter-patter sound coming from behind me. Turning around, I saw the damn things coming straight for me.

"Bloody fuck," I thought as I high tailed it for the motel room. I really didn't want to be on the list of dead people for the rest of them to look at and figure out what happened to me. Although I wasn't quite sure as to what those things were behind me, I knew for a fact that I needed to get away from them and not end up dead. Fishing through my pockets for the motel room key, I started to panic slightly as I couldn't find it. Looking over my shoulder, the panic really started to set in as the things were closer than ever.

"I really don't want to die. Dean, open the bloody fucking door," I thought as I began to bang on the door, praying to god that someone was up or at least Sam would wake up since he was the lightest sleeper out of all four of us. Dean and I were heavy sleepers, but still. I let out a whimper of fright and began to bang on the door harder as the things were just several feet away from me. How I wished that I had my voice at times like these. Or even my gun on me for that matter. Realizing that the door was not going to be opened, I turned my body and backed into the door the best I could as they closed in.

"Oh god. I'm going to die," I thought as the things with the strait jackets made to grab me. However, I suddenly tumbled backwards and would have hit the ground had it not been for an arm wrapping itself around my waist and pulling me into the room. Hearing the door slam shut, I moved myself out of the arm wrapped around myself and backed away from the door into the edge of the bed as the knocking on the door began. I was too frightened at what was happening as glass shattered and the sound of guns being cocked by both Sam and Dean filtered through my ears.

"Come on," Kiki said as she grabbed onto my arm and pulled me up off the floor before dragging me toward the bathroom. We slammed the bathroom door shut and slid to the floor against the door just as I heard shots being thrown out from one of the boys.

"God I hope they'll be ok," I thought as I ran a hand over my face in frustration.

"You ok?" I looked up as Kiki's eyes washed over me in concern.

"_Yeah. A little shook up, but I'm good,"_ I replied with a nod.

"What were those things?" she asked, causing me to shrug.

"_Your guess is as good as mine,"_ I replied, causing her to nod in understanding. I leant my head against the door and let out a sigh as I strained to hear what was going on with the other side of the door. I was getting a little worried when I didn't hear anything, which caused me to jump when I heard pounding on the door. Looking at Kiki, I shook my head to not open the door as a precaution. I really wasn't in the mood to have my heart cut out. However, the sound of a cell phone cut the tension in the air as Kiki pulled hers out of her pocket and looked at it.

"It's Sam. He says that it's only him and Dean on the other side of the door, so we need to open up," she said, causing me to scramble onto my feet and throw open the bathroom door to see Sam and Dean with looks of concern written across their faces. I didn't think twice and threw myself into Dean's arms, burying my face into his chest as I began to cry. I don't know why, but my body just gave in and let the water flow from my eyes. I had come close to dying and I didn't want to. I really didn't want to. Out of all the times that I had said that I wanted to die, that was just fucking bullshit now. I grasped Dean's shirt tighter as I felt him pick me up, his arms tightening around me slightly.

"**Are you alright****?**" Sam asked as Dean sat down on the bed and began running his fingers through my hair, a comforting feeling that was beginning to calm me down. I merely nodded to Sam's question and wiped at my tears.

"**What the hell were those things?"** Dean asked, causing me to shrug as Sam and Kiki shook their heads.

"**I don't know. I can't find anything in dad's journal about these things****,**" he replied as he flipped through their dad's journal for anything that John may have known about these creatures or things that were coming after us.

"Maybe it's something that you're dad may not have known about. Maybe this is something that didn't really catch anyone's eye because it doesn't happen as often as some of the other things that we hunt," Kiki said, causing Dean to shake his head in disagreement.

"**That would be a bunch of bullshit and you know it. The whole painting thing in New York with the Merchant family happened with several years in between. This is the same thing, so there has to be something in his journals about what we just shot away,"** he said as Sam continued looking through the journal with a nod.

"**Obviously we're going to have to find out why it went after Artemis. Kiki nor I could figure out what these people who have had their hearts cut out had in common with one another. They were all different from one each other to say the least****,**" Sam said.

"I didn't get a good enough look at whatever it was that was gunning for Artemis. What about you guys?" Kiki asked, causing me to motion with my hand for something to draw with. Sam reached over the side of the bed and picked up my sketch book, causing me to flip open to a new page and quickly draw a rough sketch of whatever had attacked me since I had been the one to get the close enough look. Turning the book around, Sam gave me a confused look as he took the sketch book from me.

"**What is it****?**" he asked, causing me to shrug.

"_Your guess is good as mine. I noticed them off in the distance while I was swinging on a swing in the nearby park and I just took off when they got close enough to me. There were two of these things floating about a foot off the ground and then there were two things following behind them in what looked to be strait jackets or something. I would think maybe henchmen of some sort. Can't really be too sure,"_ I replied as he nodded.

"Do you think they'll come back?" Kiki asked, causing me to stiffen at the thought. It wasn't a good thought because they could come back if we all decided to fall asleep. There always seemed to be a knock on the door when they were there, but I just didn't want to think about it and buried my face into Dean's chest with a whimper. He sensed my distraught and continued to stroke his fingers through my hair as he began to write something on his board.

"**We'll do shifts tonight. Sam and I will divide the hours until we are able to get to the library to research these things. Hopefully they won't get any more hearts tonight,"** he said as Sam nodded.

"**Who's taking the first shift****?**" Sam asked.

"**I will,"** he replied, causing me to shake my head and Sam to raise an eyebrow.

"**Apparently that's a no for you. She's probably right though. She's not going to sleep any time soon if you're not there****,**" Sam said, causing me to flip him off as he smirked slightly. Dean caught on pretty quickly and flipped him off as well, causing Kiki to laugh as Sam stood up and moved with that stupid smirk plastered to his face or something.

"_I am not sleeping. Forget that. I don't need my heart cut out, thank you very much. And no I'm not taking glasses of water from you, Sam. The last time I did so, I was out for a while. I know you put those Excedrin into my water the last time to get me to sleep,"_ I said, causing Dean's chest to give a rumble as he let out a soundless laugh. I merely rolled my eyes and hit him in the chest to stop laughing.

"**Whatever you say, Art. Just try and go to sleep. Dean and I are not going to be sleeping any time soon at all. Just trust us when I say that those things are not going to come back and take our hearts****,**" he said, causing me to roll my eyes again.

"_I'll believe it when I have my heart in the morning,"_ I said, causing Dean to sigh in irritation and toss me slightly to the top of the bed. I gave him a dirty look as he stood up, causing him to shake his head and mouth "sleep." I simply shook my head and crossed my arms as I sat against the head board and glared at him.

"**I don't have time for your antics, princess. I'm tired and going to sleep. Do not take your tiredness out on me if you don't get any sleep,"** he said, taking off his boots before tossing himself onto his side of the bed and making himself comfortable. I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh as I tilted my head against the head board. This hunt was not going well and I was irritated. Being almost grabbed and killed by those things was definitely enough to stop me from hunting anything further after this hunt was up, but I knew that I wasn't about to go any place in the confused state I was in. My thoughts were interrupted as I was yanked kind of roughly further down the bed, an arm wrapping around my waist kind of tightly as Dean pulled me against him. I tried to move out of his grip, but it was to no avail, causing me to give him a dirty look.

"Sleep," he mouthed before he buried his face into the crook of my neck, causing me to squirm at the sudden uncomfortable contact. He let out a snort of laughter but kept still, causing me to give up in trying to move as I knew he wouldn't let me go. Sighing, I tilted my head back and let my eyes fall shut as thoughts began to consume me. What the bloody fuck was going on? It was like Dean was possessed or something. But then again, this was Dean I was talking about. He did everything in his power to annoy the bloody fuck out of me. And right now, I think he knows what he's doing is pushing my buttons. I think. Sighing, I shifted my eyes open and let them land on Sam. He was sitting at the table on his laptop, most likely trying to find out what it is we're fighting against, and looked up at me as if he felt me looking at me. His eyes shifted to his brother and his lips shifted back into a smirk, causing me to merely flip him off before shutting my eyes again. God help me through this night.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"**Fairy tale monsters****.**" I blinked as Sam dropped his board onto my lap, causing me to pick it up and read it at least twice to make sure I understood before looking up at him with a confused look.

"**Fairy tale monsters? What the fuck are you talking about?"** I asked as Artemis peered over my shoulder at Sam's board and raised an eyebrow in confusion as well before grabbing the bag of Doritos I was eating out of my hands and throwing herself into the chair next to me. I gave her a dirty look, which she merely stuck her tongue out at me. I was about to grab them back from her when Sam smacked me in the back of the head and held out his board.

"**The two of you need to knock it off. We're in serious trouble. Those things last night stole two more hearts and only need two more before they completely disappear again for another twenty years****,**" he said, causing the two of us to roll our eyes at his panic.

"_Stop panicking, Sam. Apparently you found some good information that we can use to destroy whatever those things were that tried killing me last night,"_ she said as I nodded in agreement.

"**Fairy tale monsters, Artemis****,**" he said.

"_But fairy tales are not real,"_ she said as she gave him a crazy look.

"Anything is possible in our line of work, Artemis. This time fairy tales are fucking real. And don't hate me because my drawings are not as good as yours," Kiki said before she held up a piece of paper with a poorly drawn figure on it that looked kind of like what we had seen last night. It was holding what looked like a suitcase, causing Artemis and I to look at one another before looking at Kiki.

"Hey! I told you my drawing skills were nowhere near what Artemis' are," she said before picking up another drawing. I tilted my head as it was a bunch of hearts littering the entire page, causing Artemis and I to look at one another in confusion once again. Where was this going?

"They need hearts. They come to a town and stealing everyone's voice within the town so that no one can scream. Especially when they do this," she said as she held up two more drawings of the thing standing over a bed and cutting into a person laying in the bed before producing a heart.

"**They need seven hearts and they already have five of the seven****,**" Sam said.

"_What do they need seven hearts for?"_ Artemis asked, causing Kiki to shrug.

"Didn't say," she replied.

"**So how do we kill them? Obviously guns didn't work last night. Maybe a machete or a sword of some sort?"** I asked, causing Sam to shake his head.

"**In the tales, no mortal sword or machete or anything can kill the Gentlemen****,**" he replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"**Gentlemen?"** I asked.

"_It fits. They looked like they were wearing suits of some sort. So Gentlemen would suit that. And those things that were following them on the ground? Footmen or something?" _Artemis asked, causing Kiki to nod.

"They kind of hold the person down while the Gentlemen cut out the person's heart," she replied, causing me to give a slight shudder at the thought of being held down, screaming as some guy took out my heart straight from my body.

"_So if no sword can kill them, what can?"_ Artemis asked, causing Sam to point to his throat. I raised an eyebrow as Artemis drew a large question mark on her board to emphasize our confusion. He merely rolled his eyes and wrote something down.

"**In the tales, it says that the princess screamed and they all fell dead. Which means that we need a human voice to scream in order to kill these things****,**" he replied.

"**So how do we get our voices back? And where do we find these damn things so that they don't go out and get those last two hearts?" **I asked, causing Sam and Kiki to shrug.

"That we don't know. But I'm guessing that where ever they are, it has to be somewhere deserted in order to keep their presence unknown to the people of the town," Kiki replied.

"_So how many deserted places are there around this town? I mean, there can't be many since this town is so small and so full of life,"_ Artemis said as I nodded in agreement.

"**We're just going to have to go out and about the town to find a place. It's like Artemis said. This town is small and full of life. We're bound to come across an abandoned building or something worth those damn things living in for two or three days. Or in this case, three. Or is it four. I lost count****,**" he said.

"**So we split up. You and Kiki take one side of town and princess and I will take the other. Simple as that,"** I said, causing Artemis to roll her eyes as I gave her a smirk. I wasn't sure why, but I was enjoying the feel of pushing her buttons. It had been a while since I had really pushed her buttons and to see her get riled up was kind of a turn-on. I think. About an hour later, Kiki and Sam took off in one direction from the motel while Artemis and I took off in the other direction, walking at the insistence of Artemis.

"**It would be a lot easier if we would have just taken the car,"** I said, causing her to roll her eyes and smack me in the arm.

"_Stop whining or I'll give you something to whine about,"_ she said, causing me to raise an eyebrow in challenge.

"**Is that so?"** I asked.

"_Shut up. I would have figured that you would have gotten enough pleasure out of watching me squirm or whatever last night. Did you have to put your head into the crook of my neck last night?"_ she asked, causing me to smirk.

"**You enjoyed it,"** I replied, causing her to roll her eyes and walk slightly ahead of me, lips moving in a mutter. More than likely cursing me if that. I could only smirk as I watched her walk ahead, the bright green knee length dress she was wearing clinging to her figure possessively and swayed just slightly around the bottom. The white knee boots and her hair pulled back slightly made her more sexy, especially since she was not in a highly good mood at the moment.

"Wait. I need to stop thinking about this or I'm going to do something I regret," I thought, my jeans starting to become a little bit tight. Swallowing slightly, I picked up my stride to walk beside her. However, I was stopped as she completely stopped walking and hit me in the chest before pointing across the street. Looking over, I saw what looked to be a slightly run down building with a clock. An old court house maybe or something along those lines.

"_The clock is moving,"_ she said, causing me to tilt my head and look up at the clock. I stared at it for about a minute and when I didn't see it move, I thought maybe she was full of it. But she merely shook her head and pointed at the clock, causing me to stare at it again. This time the big hand moved just slightly down, causing me to look over at Artemis.

"_It looks like an old court house building or something. It was something of importance because a huge clock like that on the front always meant importance with the building. Remember when we first got here to Annabella? In the center of town there is a huge building with a clock on the front, which is the new court house or something. They must of built that one and then shut this one down. I don't remember seeing anybody coming or going out of this building. And I would have certainly remembered the clock moving. This one doesn't move except every minute or something like that,"_ she said.

"**Not enough to cause curiosity out of the townspeople,"** I said, causing her to nod.

"_That clock wasn't moving at when we first got here and now it is. Text Sam and tell him to meet back at the hotel. We need to figure out how we're going to get our voices back and kill these things,"_ she said before grabbing her own cell phone out of her pocket and beginning to head back in the direction we had come from. Watching her go, I shook my head at how absurd but true her evidence seemed to be. Sending Sam a message, I followed after Artemis and we headed back toward the hotel. Hopefully we would be able to get rid of these things before those last two hearts were stolen.

* * *

"So what's the plan really? If these things can't die by knife or gun, I'm just really nervous as to how we're going to manage this before we find our voices."

"_We'll figure something out,"_ Artemis said as she cocked a gun into safety and stuck it into the inside of her jacket, since she was wearing that damn dress of hers, before grabbing another one and cocking it. Sam and I both grabbed shot guns before shutting the trunk of the Impala and turning toward the clock tower.

"**So there were two of them with two followers last night. I'm not sure how many more there will be inside****,**" Sam said as we quickly made our way to the building. Finding it locked, I quickly worked the lock before quietly pushing the door open. It was eerily quiet and I felt Artemis grip my arm as she looked around.

"Creepy," she mouthed before she let go of me and made her way over toward Sam as he moved toward the stairs. As I made my way toward a door on my left, the sound of something hitting the wall or the floor and then the sound of a shot gun caused me to turn around to find Kiki flipping herself up off the floor before elbowing one of the things in the strait jacket that grabbed onto her from behind. I cocked the shot gun and was about to shoot when I saw out of the corner of my eye one of them following green up the stairs and I realized that Artemis moving up the stairs at a quick pace.

"Follow her before she does something stupid," Sam mouthed, causing me to toss my shot gun to him before taking a hand gun out of the waist of my jeans and hurrying up the stairs after Artemis. However, my plan to follow her to where ever she was going got cut short as something struck against my chest and knocked me to the floor, my gun flying from my hand.

"Fuck," I thought as I tried to get up but was knocked down by a body crashing into mine. I looked up and saw Artemis shaking her head a little bit before turning around to give me an apologetic look.

"Sorry," she mouthed before her foot flew up and hit one of the followers, causing her to flip herself up and pull me up as well. Having no idea where my gun flew to, I reached around into the inside of her jacket and cocked the gun out of safety. Moving apart from one another, Artemis took to one side of the room while I took to the other, a bullet being shot from the gun in my hand before I slammed my body into one trying to take me down. I clocked it against a large bell that happened to be in the way before firing off a couple of more shots around the room as more and more of the followers as well as the creepy looking Gentlemen began to appear in the room.

"Well this is just great," I thought before yanking Artemis up by the waist as she tumbled to the floor in front of me.

"What now?" she mouthed.

"What are you asking me for?" I mouthed back before she ducked, allowing me to nail a follower in the head with the gun in my hand.

"There has to be something," she mouthed.

"Yeah. Screaming," I mouthed with sarcasm as I threw a punch before pulling Artemis back with me as they closed in on us. She gave me a dirty look and I merely rolled my eyes. As I made to kick at another follower, I saw Sam and Kiki out of the corner of my eye enter the room and nearly avoided being taken down.

"This is just great. Not that this isn't a great workout, but this fucking sucks," I thought with as much sarcasm as I could muster as I avoided a knife entering me from one of the Gentlemen that had somehow managed to get behind me. I knocked him away just as I was tossed across a nearby table toward Sam.

"The box," he mouthed as he swung a piece of wood at a follower.

"What?" I mouthed in confusion, only to tear my eyes away from my brother to the huge bell across the room where Artemis was trying hard to heave herself up off the floor, probably having been thrown against it, and Kiki trying to get out of the corner she had gotten herself into.

"That box," Sam mouthed as he turned me around toward a table before swinging the piece of wood again. On the table I spotted a couple of glass jars, some of which had the hearts that the Gentlemen had collected since they had come to town, and a box that was sitting directly in the middle of jars.

"What about it?" I mouthed as I ducked and kicked a follower out of the way.

"It's from Kiki's dream. The little girl in her dream was holding it. It holds our voices," he mouthed back before catching Kiki as she tumbled to the floor in front of us.

"You sure?" I mouthed, causing him to roll his eyes before nodding.

"Great," I thought as I easily caught Artemis before she landed hard on the ground and set her down before moving toward the table. However, that was cut short as I let out a gasp for air as one attacked me from the front and another from the back. I struggled to get out of their grip but they were pretty damn fucking strong as struggled just slightly to hold me down. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sam and Kiki basically in the same position I was in, but Artemis was nowhere to be seen. Where she had gone to I wasn't sure, but I didn't have time to think much when one of the Gentlemen appeared in front of me with a knife in hand.

"Oh fuck me," I said as I struggled to move. However, I stopped struggling when I realized that my words filtered through my ears for the first time in about two or three days.

"Artemis…." But Sam didn't even make out a full sentence when a ear-splitting scream ripped through the room, the Gentlemen and the followers letting go of us as they held their hands to their heads. I covered my head just in time as their heads exploded and chunks of goo just flew all over the room and us. Keeping myself still for a few seconds, I slowly sat up and looked around the room to see Sam and Kiki sitting up themselves, but no sign of Artemis whatsoever.

"Where's Artemis?" I asked, thanking god for the fact that I could talk again and didn't have to use a board to talk.

"I'm right here." I craned my neck to see Artemis' figure over in a corner with the box that had been sitting in the middle of the glass jars on the table in her hand and it was opened. She had been staring at the box but looked up when she felt my stare.

"You alright?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. You?" I asked as I stood up and made my way over to her. She nodded and I pulled her up off the floor as Sam and Kiki got up off the floor themselves.

"I hope this god damn fucking job is done," Kiki said as Artemis grumbled in response.

"Come on. Let's get out of here. I'm in desperate need of a shower," I said as the four of us made our way down the steps of the clock tower and toward the Impala. Artemis made a comment under her breath and I gave her a look of irritation as I knew the comment was directed to me for the shower thing, but she merely rolled her eyes and gave me a cheeky grin before throwing herself into the back seat of the Impala before I could get my hands on her.

"Damn bitch," I thought as I shook my head. Why the fuck did I get landed with her?

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"Bloody fuck," I muttered as I leant my back against the side of the tub and sank beneath the bubbles, my eyes shutting as I leant my head against the backside of the tub. I normally wasn't for baths, especially bubble baths, but my muscles were aching after having been thrown against walls and a bell in the tower and having a bath without bubbles was enough to have Dean jump me. I didn't need that.

"Definitely don't need it," I thought, shaking my head slightly before letting a small sigh escape my lips. It didn't last long as the bath wasn't doing anything to help sooth at least some of my muscles. Letting out a sigh, I scrubbed myself up before drying off and throwing on a tank top and shorts that I wore to bed. Toweling off my hair, I threw it up into a messy bun and went back out into the room to get Sam to try and work out some of the kinks in my back. However, Sam and Kiki were nowhere to be found and Dean was on the bed flipping through the channels.

"Where are the lovebirds?" I asked as I sat down on the bed.

"Dinner. Since we don't have people wanting to cut our hearts out anymore, they went to dinner by themselves. I picked up some Chinese while you were in the bathroom," he replied.

"Great," I muttered as I cracked my neck just slightly.

"What's with you?" he asked as his gaze shifted from the television to me.

"Sam's not here and my back is bloody fucking killing me," I replied as I twisted myself so that I was laying on my stomach, my eyes shifting to the television as Dean made himself comfortable or something. I really wasn't paying attention and maybe I should of because I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt one of Dean's hands press into my lower back.

"Winchester," I growled as I felt him straddle the back of my legs.

"Shut it, Summers. Obviously you're going to be a bitch until Sam gets back if the kinks in your back muscles are not knotted out. Figured I'd give you a helping hand," he said, kneading his knuckles into my lower back. I wanted to throw him off and give him a good smack to the head, but I couldn't help but arch my back slightly at the pressure he was putting onto it.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that you're enjoying my touch," he said, a smirk evident in his voice.

"Shut up, Dean. So you found something you're good at. Congratulations," I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster.

"I know something I'm better at," he said as his hands stopped, causing me to shift slightly in irritation. Filled with slight worry at what he meant by that, I turned my head slightly to look at him, only to find myself flipped onto my back and his lips on mine. I groaned as his tongue swept into my mouth, a battle for dominance I knew I couldn't win even if I tried my damn ass off. I let out a gasp as he began to move down my body and began to suck on my neck, his hands finding the bottom of my shirt and pulling it up.

"Bloody fuck," I groaned as he pulled me up so that I was straddling his lap before he tugged my shirt off and tossed it to the floor.

"We'll get there, princess. We'll get there," he said with a slight laugh as I gave him as much of a glare as I could muster before I let out a small whimper and let my eyes flutter shut as his tongue trailed the outer shell of my ear and down my neck again. My hands moved along his bare chest and up around his shoulders before pulling him as close as possible and dragging his lips back up to mine.

"Impatient much?" he asked as he broke away for air.

"Shut up," I replied, causing him to growl and push me back against the mattress, straddling my waist before unclasping my bra and throwing it across the room. I arched up with a gasp as his mouth latched onto my nipple, my hands threading into his hair as a jolt of pleasure shot up my spine. It was absolute bloody torture as he switched between sucking and letting his teeth scrap against the sensitive skin and I knew he was enjoying every minute of what it was doing to me.

"Bloody bastard," I gasped, causing him to chuckle as I shuddered at his tongue slowly trailing up my skin to my neck. I let out a slight whimper as he nipped and sucked at the junction between my collar bone and neck, a hickie in no doubt already beginning to form.

"I may be a bastard, but this bastard knows exactly what you want," he said, a growl escaping his lips as I hooked my fingers into the loops of his jeans and pulled him as close as possible to me.

"Well then this bastard best stop teasing if he knows what's good for him," I said, my hands moving across his chest before moving down toward the button on his jeans. Just as I flicked it open, the sound of "Heartache Every Moment" by H.I.M. filtered through the room and I groaned as I realized that it was Kiki calling my cell phone, which was across the room on the table and out of reach.

"Screw it," he said, kissing me hard before kissing his way down my body. I let out a moan as his hands followed down the same path and just as he made to slip his hands beneath the waistband of my night shorts, the sound of his cell phone sounded throughout the room and he groaned, his head dropping into the crook of my neck before he pulled me with him so that I was straddling his lap as he grabbed his cell phone from the side table.

"This better be good, Sam," he growled, his free hand beginning to run itself through my hair as I blew lightly on his ear. I smirked slightly as he struggled to keep himself from groaning while he was on the phone with his brother.

"Is he in need of our assistances right away? I'm kind of in the middle of something at the moment," he said, giving me a lustful glare as I tugged on his free ear with my teeth before moving down toward his neck. I really don't know what was happening, but it was like my body was on a whole other game plan and for once, I really wasn't complaining.

"Alright. I'll have her up and ready to go when the two of you get back here," he snapped, shutting his cell phone and tossing it over onto the other bed with an exasperated sigh.

"What?" I asked as he bent down over the bed and picked up my shirt he had taken off.

"That was Sam. Bobby called and said he needed us right away. God do he, Kiki, and every other god damn person on this planet have bad timing," he said as I tugged on my shirt and crawled off his lap. He gave me a pained look and I chuckled.

"How long until they get here?" I asked.

"Not long enough for you to give me a blow job," he replied, hissing with pain as he stood up and started making his way toward the bathroom to no doubt have a quick shower before Sam and Kiki got back.

"Like I would anyway," I said, smirking as he gave me a dirty look.

"You're just lucky I'm infatuated with you," he said, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"You mean you're admitting to loving me?" I asked.

"Infatuated," he replied.

"Love me," I said.

"Infatuated."

"Love me."

"Yes. Fine. I'm admitting it. Damn woman," he said, causing me to chuckle before it died down and I looked at him. His gaze was intense and I knew he was waiting for me to say something in return. My mind was so clouded with millions of different things that I just wasn't sure what to say.

"I love you too," I said, causing him to grunt as he made his way over toward me and pulled me up into a scorching kiss.

"Don't think I'm done with you just because Sam likes to interrupt. And if you mention this to either one of those two lovebirds about what I've just admitted, I'm going to kill you," he said, causing my eyes to narrow playfully before sticking out my tongue. He rolled his eyes and smirked before heading off toward the bathroom to take a quick shower. I shook my head and stood to find something comfortable to change into on our way to Bobby's. However, I began to feel really light-headed and I sat back down as the room began to get incredibly colder.

"What's happening?" I thought as a major headache began to take place. I just couldn't place it. It felt so familiar but yet I couldn't place it. My mind was so full of Dean and the minutes we had shared before that it was just too much to even th….

"Oh god," I whispered as I realized what was happening. What I had done. I sensed someone within the room and as I turned around on the bed, my headache increased severely. I let out a whimper and clutched my head as I fell back against the comforter, blackness starting to take over. However, just as it was consuming me completely, fluttering black sheets caught the corner of my eye and I didn't need a complete look to know who was standing there.

The reaper of the curse.


	20. Chapter 19: Screams of a Broken Heart

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Screams of a Broken Heart**

"_You must choose." I slowly sat up with slight confusion as the black robed reaper stood mere feet from me, an emotionless expression upon her face as she gazed upon me._

"_I can't," I said as I slowly stood up._

"_You must choose, Artemis. You know the rules," she said._

"_Rules that I did not choose," I snapped._

"_But rules you must follow nonetheless," she said, her expression never changing._

"_I won't choose," I said, shaking my head._

"_Then he will be the one to die for your stubbornness," she said, causing me to frown._

"_Since when is that a rule?" I asked._

"_Many people have died because of you, young one. Because you chose yourself over them. But if you do not choose, the other will die and you must live with that guilty for the entire length of your life. You must choose," she replied, causing me to shake my head again._

"_I can't choose. It is not fair. I won't cho…."_

"_Artemis?" I stopped speaking as I heard Dean's voice and turned around to find him standing in the bathroom doorway, staring in my direction with a look of slight confusion etched into his face._

"_Dean, I can….." But I stopped speaking as he seemed to completely ignore me and walk toward the edge of the bed, leaning down to check something. Hearing him swear, I turned my body in the direction of the bed and blinked in confusion as I saw myself laying there, not moving an inch as Dean leant his head down toward my face and then my chest. I had to be sleeping. Right?_

"_What's going on?" I asked, watching him reach for his cell phone as he tried to wake me. But I was standing right in front of him. Wasn't I? Was I experiencing another out-of-body experience or something?_

"_You know you're in a coma like state at this point. You should be familiar with the essence of your curse when you say those words. Your body is slowly beginning to die as I wait for you to choose. You must choose before it is too late," she replied, causing me to shake my head furiously and look at her._

"_I won't choose. There must be some other way," I said._

"_There is no other way, young one. You must choose now," she said, causing me to look back over to where Dean was yelling into his cell phone with what was probably Sam and trying to wake me at the same time. There just had to be a way to get out of this. Sam would never forgive me if something happened to Dean. Never._

"_Choose now, chi…"_

"_I'll bargain with you. I'll make a deal," I said as I turned back toward her and gave her a look. She stared upon me with a stare so intense I swear that the room dropped a couple of degrees._

"_I am listening, child," she said, causing me to completely turn to face her with a determined look._

"_I'll bargain with you. Two weeks to find the cure for the curse or you can take my life right where I stand at the end of those two weeks," I said._

"_And if you find the cure?" she asked._

"_Then the curse is broken and you will never bother me or anyone I love again," I replied._

"_It will not do for the main keeper of lives. Choose," she said with a shake to her head._

"_No. I won't choose. Two weeks to find the cure for this god damn bloody curse and you can take my life if I can't find it. If I do find it, I don't ever want to see another reaper again so long as I live. And to sweeten the pot, if I find the curse, you can take the lives of my two step-sisters in exchange for mine," I said._

"_The main…."_

"_He or she will because they are getting two for one. And it doesn't matter if those two bitches have a say in the matter or not about their lives. I sure in bloody hell didn't. Deal or no deal?" I asked, anger beginning to flood my body as my tolerability toward this motherly looking reaper began to seriously wane. She stared at me for several moments before nodding._

"_You will be granted two weeks. No more," she said, causing me to nod as I turned back toward Dean. However, everything became pitch black just as Sam and Kiki walked through the door. I was dead. Wasn't I?_

* * *

"Artemis!" I jolted from my spot by the window and turned my head quickly toward the sound of Sam's voice, guilt immediately consuming me as I saw the frown and worry etched into his face as he looked at me from his spot across from me at the table.

"Uh….I don't know the answer," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"I wasn't really asking you a question, Artemis. I was trying to get your attention. I've been trying to get your attention for the last 10 minutes or so, but you're mind is just not here at the moment. Are you ok?" he asked, causing me to run a hand over my face as a sigh escaped my lips.

"I'm fine. I just spaced out for a little bit. Sorry," I replied as I gave him an apologetic look.

"It's alright. You just have been worrying me a little bit since the whole hotel scare. I don't think I've ever seen Dean so hysterical in my life," he said, causing me to sigh again.

"I can only tell you again that I just don't know what happened. You called Dean and he went to take a shower while I got dressed. And I don't know. Everything went dark and fuzzy after that. I really don't remember anything," I said. I knew I was lying and I felt guilty for lying, especially to Sam, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell him or the other two what was happening. What I had done. What was going to go on within the next two weeks.

"Well, maybe it will come to you after you get some food in that system of yours." I gave Bobby a grateful smile and a nod as he set two plates of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast in front of me and Sam.

"Dig in before Dean makes his way in here. There won't be anything left after that," he said, shaking his head as he started making up a plate for Kiki, who happen to walk in at that moment.

"Well then I guess I had better get a plate because he's upstairs taking a shower right now," she said with a chuckle as she gave Sam a quick kiss before sitting down next to him. I quickly diverted my eyes because I was hurting inside about what had happened and how the hell I was going to tell anyone about it, but I quickly covered it up and gave Sam a small smile as he turned to speak to me.

"I know we got in kind of really early this morning, but Bobby says that we can't hold out too much longer with the new case he found. In Savannah, Georgia, there have been several cases of people dying. A range of women and men have been found dead across the city and nobody seems to understand why," he said, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Any indication to how they died?" I asked, causing him to nod.

"Bobby thinks it might be a banshee of some sort," he replied.

"A banshee? Isn't that like some kind of Irish folklore or something?" I asked.

"Very good, Artemis. Glad to see you actually know something off the top of your pretty little head," he replied. Or more dead panned if anything. I rolled my eyes and flipped him off as Bobby merely shook his head and joined us at the table with his own plate after giving Kiki hers.

"I know some folklore, Sam. I just prefer mythology over the supernatural folklore," I said, causing him to chuckle and shake his head.

"I figured you would, especially since your name comes from those origins," he said.

"Artemis is the Greek goddess of the forests, hills, virginity or fertility, which ever you prefer to say, and of the hunt. Flora is the Roman goddess of the spring and the blooming of the flowers. Kind of ironic since there isn't anything virginal or blooming of flowers about me. I think maybe my parents were on some kind of drug or something when they named me," I said, causing Sam and Kiki to chuckle as I shoved a piece of my toast into my mouth.

"Morning." I froze in stealing a piece of bacon from Sam's plate and gave Dean a quick nod before proceeding to stuff the bacon into my mouth and standing up.

"Where you going off in a hurry, princess?" he asked as he grabbed a plate from the counter and sat down where I had been sitting just a second previously.

"Research. I think. Sam, you said banshee, right? Yes. Got it. Bye," I said, dropping my plate into the sink and hurrying out of the room before any of them could say something to me. I knew they knew I was acting funny, but I could care less at the moment. I couldn't be in the same room as Dean at the moment without freaking out. I just couldn't. It was hard enough knowing that I would somehow have to tell him and the others about what had happened, especially since Dean had gotten out of the shower to find me nearly half dead. I just wasn't sure how I was going to do it. And when.

"Are you ok?" I jumped as Sam appeared beside me, an apologetic look spreading across his face as he realized he had scared me.

"Uh…yeah. I'm just thinking about what to research first," I replied, causing him to give me a look that said "don't try to bullshit me."

"You're lying. I can see right through you. I've always been able to see right through you. Something is going on and it definitely has something to do with Dean," he said.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes as he pushed me toward the couch and sat down. I sighed and sat down beside him.

"Artemis, what's going on? You've been avoiding Dean since the incident in the motel room and although I like my brother, he hogs most of the bed. You're really starting to worry me," he said, causing me to sigh again and run a hand through my hair. I knew with Sam I couldn't avoid him with what was going on. He could always see right through me and even though he was the first to know everything since I had met him.

"Sam, I think I screwed up," I said, my voice cracking just a little bit.

"What do you mean? What did you screw up?" he asked.

"I've got two weeks, Sam," I replied as the tears that I told myself I wasn't going to form and let drop down my face began to form in my eyes.

"Two weeks for what?" he asked as confusion formed on his face.

"I've got two weeks to find the cure for the curse or I'm going to die," I replied, tears slowly starting to fall as I turned my head to look at him. He stared at me for a second before his eyes widened in shock.

"Artemis, are you telling me you activated that curse without the damn cure?" he asked, causing me to nod as the tears started to fall faster.

"Last night after you called to tell us about Bobby. I don't know. It just slipped out and I know I meant it or otherwise the god damn bloody reaper wouldn't be after me. Sam, what am I going to do? I don't even know where to start. I've got two weeks and I traded my own life for Dean's," I replied.

"Artemis…"

"The reaper came to me last night and I had an out-of-body experience like I have all the other times that it has happened to me. I was watching the whole thing last night when Dean found me almost half-dead or something after he got out of the shower and you guys were arriving back from dinner. I had a choice. I had to choose between myself and Dean. If I didn't choose, then Dean was going to drop dead right at that moment. You would have never forgiven me if something happened to your brother. I would never forgive myself. So I made a deal. My life for his. If I can't find the cure in two weeks, then she takes mine immediately. I drop dead right where I stand on the day the two weeks end. If I find the cure then she lets me live and she takes the lives of my two step-sisters. What am I going to do, Sam? I'm at a loss. I don't know what to say or even where to begin. What have I done?" I asked, tears falling hard as I buried my face into my hands and began to cry. I really didn't know what to do. The more I thought about it the more I regretted making the decision I did.

"Come here," he said, pulling me into his arms. I immediately leant into his embrace and just let it all go. Everything I had in me just flooded out and onto Sam's shirt as I clutched onto him like it was my last moment of life. Which it would be soon enough.

"Shh…It's alright. We'll figure something out. I promise. We're going to figure something out if it's the last thing we do," he said, stroking my back and placing a small kiss on the top of my head. It was comforting, but I knew it wasn't comforting enough to make me forget. If anything, it put a little bit more of doubt in my mind in knowing I probably wasn't going to succeed.

God I hated my life sometimes.

* * *

"I don't know if you're going to be able to go out after this banshee if that's what is killing the people in Savannah." I looked up from Kiki's laptop in my quest to learn more about banshees, if that was what we were hunting once we left Bobby's place for Savannah, Georgia, to look at Bobby as he sat down across from me at the table with a pile of books. Kiki was upstairs trying to catch up on some of the sleep she had missed coming from the motel to Bobby's while Sam and Dean were outside practicing with the guns. I would have been out there, but Sam suggested that I do some research so that I wouldn't get upset or something when it came to being around Dean. I knew I loved Sam for something.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I gave him a confused look.

"I know you know all about Greek and Roman mythology. That's something I know you know, but do you know anything about the Irish folklore or their mythology?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"I'm assuming that's why I'm doing some research before we leave you," I replied, causing him to sigh.

"Artemis, a banshee, in Irish folklore, only comes around a household when someone within that household is about to die. Usually it's too warn the family of the coming death," he said.

"Ok. So let me see if I can get this before you even tell me. You think that the banshee is going to hang around us to indicate that one of the four of us is going to die. Is there a specific reason for that?" I asked.

"Artemis, these walls are thin," he replied, causing me to give him a confused look.

"I'm not understanding," I said, causing him to sigh and give me a look.

"You need to tell Dean, Artemis. There is no way around what you're going through. How is Sam going to explain to him when he wakes up and you're dead?" he asked, causing me to give him a bewildered look.

"What are you talking about? Wait. How do you know about any of this of what's going on?" I asked.

"Sam. Plus I've had my suspicions since you were here last time after you and Dean got out of the hospital. This curse you're running from is not exactly a pretty one to be having on your back. Especially because you told him you loved him and meant it. How much time do you have?" he asked, causing me to sigh and run a hand over my face. Damn you, Sam.

"Two weeks," I replied.

"You might die before that," he said, causing me to give him a confused look.

"What are you talking about? I've got two weeks to figure this damn curse out before I go to hell for good. Surely you didn't want me to trade my life for Dean's," I said as my eyes narrowed.

"Did you do any research on the banshee, Artemis?" he asked as he gave me a look.

"I haven't got far. Especially since you interrupted me. And how the hell do you know that it could possibly be a banshee killing these people in Savannah?" I asked.

"Because there is Irish folklore and then there is supernatural folklore. Banshees kill people with their screams. Pop the blood vessels in the body, especially the heart and mind," he replied.

"Ok. So what does that have to do with me dying before my two weeks is up?" I asked, causing him to sigh.

"Because the banshee goes after people that are heartbroken and in pain. People who are emotionally unstable," he replied, causing me to stand up and narrow my eyes at him.

"And you're telling me that I'm incapable of hunting because you think I'm emotionally unstable? I'm not emotionally unstable," I snapped, causing him to give me a look.

"Oh really? So explain to me why you can't stay in the same room as Dean when he walks into it? You left the kitchen so quickly this morning that it was like you were purposely avoiding him. And do you care to explain why you're so jumpy around him?" he asked as he stood up.

"Go to hell, Bobby," I growled before I threw the chair I had been sitting in out of my way before storming out of the room. I was so pissed off at what was happening that I wasn't watching where I was going and crashed into someone. I would have fallen to the floor, but an arm wrapping around my waist stopped me from doing so.

"Why is it that I'm always having to catch you before you fall?" I looked up at Dean, who had a slight smirk playing on his face, and blushed slightly as he chuckled. However, the situation at hand plagued my mind quickly and I frowned, stepping back from him slightly. He gave me a confused look and a frown.

"Are you alright?" he asked, causing me to nod before speaking.

"Yeah. I'm fine," I replied, trying to keep my composure still and not wince at the ice like tone I was using with him. It had been months since I used it with him and with just a look in his direction, I could tell that he had caught the tone. He merely gave me a concerned look.

"You do know that it takes a really good liar to bullshit a really good liar, right?" he asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Huh. Didn't know that. Guess maybe you should work on your skills then, huh?" I asked with sarcasm, my eyes rolling for good measure as I made to move around him to head outside where Sam was still at. However, he had other plans and grabbed my arm to stop me from going anywhere.

"We're not done here, princess. I know something's wrong with you," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Nothing's wrong, Dean. Now let me go," I said as I gave him a glare.

"Not until we're done," he said, shaking his head.

"Let me go," I snapped as I tried to get my arm out of his grip, but he was strong in that aspect and shook his head.

"You're not going anywhere, " he said, causing me to whirl around completely and knee him quite hard in his most sensitive place below the belt. He let out a yell and a string of curses as he doubled over, but his grip loosened on me and I took the opportunity to yank myself free from him and hurry out the back door to Sam, who was just coming up the stairs to come inside. I literally launched myself at him and buried my face into his chest as he tried to keep himself balanced from the sudden impact.

"Artemis?" he asked, cautiously as he could as my entire body began to shake with the oncoming tears that were producing in my eyes. I could sense Dean coming to stand at the entrance of the door and I knew he was about to say something when Sam spoke.

"Don't, Dean. Just don't," he said, his arms wrapped themselves around my body slightly and held me to him as I began to cry. I couldn't help it. I just couldn't help the tears that were coming. Everything was so screwed up. I had literally screwed up and I couldn't tell Dean. I just couldn't. Everything was coming to an end for me. Everything. And I hated myself for it.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"That's been like the 8th victim in the last week in this town. Whatever it is, if it is the banshee like Bobby suggests, it's leaving behind a trail of bodies that have no connection whatsoever to each other." I gave Sam an annoyed look as I tossed my suit jacket into the back seat of the Impala and got into the driver's seat.

"Well that's just great. It seems like a dead end until someone else dies for no absolute reason," I said with sarcasm as the tires of the Impala squealed out of the parking lot. He gave me a look, causing me to roll my eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why?" I asked.

"Because you've been acting funny since we left Bobby's two days ago. Actually, scratch that. You've been acting funny since the whole motel incident before Bobby's place. What's up?" he asked, causing me to sigh in irritation.

"Nothing is wrong, Sam. Everything's just peachy," I replied, causing him to roll his eyes.

"And I'm going to believe that for how long? Dean, I know something is going on with you and I know for a fact that it has something to do with Artemis. Who, by the way, was the one that went completely mental and put that scratch on the driver side of the Impala by the trunk right before we left for Savannah," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"I figured as much with her," I said.

"And you're not pissed?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"Not really. I'm not one for cold blooded murder," I replied, causing him to give me a strange look as I pulled up to the motel we were at and got out.

"Dean, something is going on with you. You just blew off the whole thing with Artemis putting a scratch on your baby. Now that definitely tells me that something is indeed wrong. And to top it all off, you've been in just as a foul mood as Artemis has been the last couple of days. The two of you are going to have to do something about it sooner or later," he said, causing me to stop and look at him.

"Oh yeah? And when will that be, Sam? The girl has been on fucking eggshells since that night at the motel. One minute she's fine and the next, she's avoiding me like I'm the plague. I don't know what to do and I don't know what to about her. I've run out of ideas, Sam. If I did something wrong, I need to know and I need to know now," I said, causing him to sigh and run a hand over his face. He knew something.

"Sam, what do you know?" I asked.

"I can't," he said, causing me to growl.

"What do you mean? Sam, what the hell are you not telling me?" I asked as I gave my brother a look.

"I promised Artemis. Dean, she's got to do it herself," he replied, causing me to growl again and move toward the motel room. I was beyond pissed off with this girl. Something had to of happened that night back at the motel and now it was just screwing with my head because she was ignoring me and folding herself back into that ice bubble shield she had been in when she first met us.

"Where is she?" I asked as I walked into the motel room and saw Kiki sitting at the table with her laptop. She looked up at me with confusion.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Artemis. Where is she?" I asked, causing her to nod toward the bathroom. I moved toward the bathroom, but was stopped by Sam as he hurried into the room.

"Dean, what the hell are you doing?" he asked, only for me to shove him out of my way.

"I'm going in there and the both of us are not coming out until things are said and done between the two of us. If either of you as much as step one foot toward this bathroom, I will not hesitate to take the shot gun to your heads while you're asleep. Got it? Good. Now excuse me," I said, pounding on the bathroom door twice before opening it and slamming it shut, the lock sliding into place as I turned to glare at Artemis. However, my expression changed to concern as she gripped the edge of the tub and glared at me as she spit out water from her mouth.

"Are you alright?" I asked, causing her to glare at me as she struggled slightly to sit on the edge of the tub, the towel clinging to her body soaking wet. I swallowed slightly but kept my composure as I leaned against the bathroom door.

"Do you mind, Winchester? I'm trying to take a bath. Trying being the key word since you just tried to scare the bloody fucking hell out of me," she snapped, causing my eyes to narrow at her.

"Well seeing that you're not going to be going anywhere anytime soon, we can talk," I said, causing her to scoff.

"Why would I talk to the likes of you?" she asked, causing me to scowl.

"What has gotten into you?" I asked.

"Me? Nothing. You're the one that has a problem or something. Especially since you barge right in here without consent or whatnot," she snapped, causing me to growl as I stalked toward her. I pulled her up slightly, but I found myself trying to keep my balance but failing miserable as I fell back against the tub and into the water. Artemis was coughing slightly to get the water out of her lungs and gave me a dirty look.

"Did you have to kick me hard in the shin, princess?" I asked.

"You should not have grabbed me," she replied as she made to get out of the tub, only for me to grab onto her and yank her back down. She struggled, but I kept a tight hold on her no matter how pissed off I was getting. And turned on for that matter.

"Let me go!" she yelled as I dodged her hit with the arm she got free from me.

"Artemis, stop," I said as I tried to stop her.

"Let me go. Please," she said, causing me to stop defending myself and stare at her as the tears started running down her face. I stared at her for a second before I pulled her against me, her sobs starting to ring throughout the tiny room. I was confused. This whole situation was confusing. I wasn't sure what to think.

"Hey. Look at me. Artemis, look at….." But I didn't even finish my sentence when the motel window in the bathroom and the mirror hanging on the wall shattered and a piercing scream filled the room. Artemis let out a cry and hid her face in my chest as we both covered our ears the best that we could to keep out the scream. It really wasn't working as my head started to throb severely.

"Sam!" I yelled as best as I could manage over the screams, which wasn't much since the shrieking was much closer now. Turning my head just slightly, I could see a woman hunched ever so slightly in the middle of the window, screaming at the top of her lungs. The banshee.

"Hey!" I pulled Artemis tight against me as the bathroom door smashed open to reveal Sam with the shot gun in hand. Holding his hands over his ears the best that he could, the shrieking sound completely died as he shot both rounds at the banshee. It was several seconds before he tossed it to the ground and hurried toward us, kneeling by the top in pure concern.

"Are you guys alright?" he asked, causing me to give him a look to which he gave me a sheepish grin before frowning and raising an eyebrow as he looked us over. I gave him a glare and was about to speak when Artemis beat me to it.

"Sam." It was almost like a whisper that was so quiet that if we didn't have the hearing we did being hunters, we would have never heard it. I bit my tongue as I felt what seemed like a pang of jealousy cursing through my veins, but I knew she wasn't going to want me. Not at this point anyway. Looking to me for an answer, Sam frowned as I gestured for him to take her from me.

"Just take her. Have Kiki put her into some clothes. She's too shook up to do it herself," I said, causing him to stare at me for a second more before reaching over and gently picking her up. She grasped onto his shirt and I swore it was like she was a small child clinging to her dad after having taken a bath. Sighing, I pushed myself out of the tub as he carried her out of the bathroom before returning with some dry clothes for me.

"I'm not even going to ask how you ended up in the bathtub. Although I will say that it's the most compromising place I've seen you hook up with a girl so far," he said with a slight chuckle as I gave him a glare.

"Now is not the time for jokes, Sam. I'm worried about her," I said as I shook my head.

"Look, man, I wish I could tell you what was going on. I do. I really do. But I think you would be more pissed off if you didn't hear it from the source herself," he said, causing me to sigh.

"She's tearing herself apart, Sam. She's so emotionally unstable that none of us know what to do about her. And it doesn't help that you seem to know what it going on with her while the rest of us don't. It's pissing me off that everyone seems to know what the fuck is going on with her while I don't," I said.

"That's because you've got your head up your fucking ass, Dean. You're looking in all the wrong places and pushing all the wrong buttons to get anything out of her. Haven't you learned anything with Artemis by now?" Kiki asked as she appeared in the doorway and gave me a glare. I made to give her a nasty remark, but Sam beat me to it.

"Kiki, I don't think it's the best time to be hitting Dean down. Is she alright?" he asked, causing her to shrug.

"She's curled under the blankets of one of the beds with Mr. Hoppy. I can tell you one thing that the damn banshee will be coming back," she replied, shaking her head as I looked over at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Dean, we did the research before we got here. The damn banshee is said to stand outside the household to let the family know that one of their loved ones is going to or has died already. You and Artemis can definitely confirm that we're chasing down a banshee for sure. But lets cut the bullshit and get straight to the point that we're not dealing with the Irish myth of the banshee. We're definitely dealing with the supernatural version of banshees," she replied, causing me to run a hand over my face.

"Alright. Look, we're definitely going to have to do some searching, especially to connect these victims that seem to have no connection whatsoever to one another. Tomorrow we'll split up and see what we can find. If I'm assuming correctly, Dean or Artemis are a definite target to the banshee," Sam said, causing me to nod.

"We're going to have to do shifts, Sam. In case the damn thing comes back," I said.

"I had better take the first shift. Sleep might do you some good," he said before he and Kiki left the bathroom to let me change. I let out a sigh and I changed into the dry clothes before leaving the bathroom. Sam and Kiki were at the table with their laptops and dad's journal between them, causing my eyes to shift over to the beds where Artemis was out for the count. More than likely Sam had given her an Excedrin or two to get her to sleep and I sighed as I sat down on the bed next to her. This whole thing was irritating me and I was cursing the female in the bed for making me act like this. My guards were slightly down and they were being a pain in the ass to build back up. Somewhat like what Sam and I had done to her.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about you, Artemis," I said, shaking my head before sighing. This was too mind boggling and it was weighing me down. I just hope it won't tear me down at the wrong moment.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"There seems to be a pattern but I just can't put my finger on it. It's annoying the fuck out of me." My eyes widened slightly as I stared at Sam in somewhat shock since usually the cursing was left to me and Dean when we were out on hunts. Sam and I were currently sitting inside one of Savannah's small cafés eating and looking over the data we had collected in the last couple of hours together. Or well Sam was eating as I pushed the things around on my plate.

"What are you giving me that look for?" he asked as he sensed my look and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Couldn't leave the swearing up to me and Dean?" I asked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Dean's not with us right now and you're just not emotionally stable to do much of anything at the moment but help collect the research. Quit pushing the food around and eat," he said, causing me to narrow my eyes slightly and give him a dirty look.

"I'm not hungry. And who do you think you are? My father?" I asked, causing him look up at me and shake his head.

"No. It's just that you haven't eaten since yesterday and I know for a fact that you're hungry. So quit pushing the food around the damn plate and eat before I force it down your throat for you," he said with a stern look, causing me to give him a dirty look before putting a spoonful of melon into my mouth and giving him the "are you happy now?" look. He merely rolled his eyes and went back to examining the information we had gathered.

"It just doesn't make any sense," he said with a sigh.

"There isn't much of a connection. I agree to that. But you said so yourself that there is a pattern. Obviously gender has nothing to do with it since they both are equally being attacked. They all die the same way. Blood oozing out of their ears and eyes and obviously a look of horror on their face. I'm assuming, unlike the myth in Ireland where the banshee only howls to warn of death, that this banshee uses its howling to kill the victims. The only question we have to answer is why," I said, causing him to give me a look before shaking his head and chuckling.

"Even completely unstable, you still have an answer for everything," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm not unstable," I said.

"Oh really? Want to try and answer again for 200?" he asked.

"Sam," I growled, only to have him roll his eyes.

"You know as well as everyone else around you that you're emotionally unstable. There is no way to avoid it and lie about it. Everyone sees it. Especially Dean. My poor brother is driving himself insane trying to figure out what he's done to upset you and to have you completely ignore him the way you are. My brother, the one who doesn't let anything get underneath his skin that may show an emotional side, is really upset, Artemis, in the fact that he can't seem to figure out what is going on with you. He's the only one that doesn't know what the hell is going on with you. Well, I guess Kiki doesn't either, but that's not the point. You have to tell him, Artemis. Before it's too late," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"I can't, Sam. How can I? How can I tell the guy that I seemingly love that I have two weeks to live if I can't find the cure for this curse? How can I tell him that I sacrificed myself for him? Dean is going to hate me," I said, causing him to sigh as he looked at me.

"Is that what you're afraid of? That Dean is going to hate you because you're sacrificing yourself for him? Artemis, he's going to be pissed, but it isn't going to be because you did that. It's going to be because you kept it from him. Art, you've been carrying this curse around with you since you were 8. You're 22 now. That's 14 long years you've been carrying it around and you've let it come to life again. I should be sitting here yelling at you for how stupid you are for doing that, but I can't because you two couldn't avoid it even if you tried. I knew straight from day one that you two would end up together," he said, causing me to give him a confused look.

"What?" I asked, causing him to nod.

"Yeah. It was fairly easy on my part to see that my brother wanted you. And when I mean wanted you, I mean the whole "I wonder how good in bed she is" wanted you. I mean, I can't blame him. You were and still are a gorgeous girl. If you weren't so damn stubborn and wild, I would definitely date you," he replied with a laugh as I threw an ice cube from my water at him.

"Shut up," I said, knowing fully well that I was blushing slightly.

"I'm serious. Although I think Dean might kill me along with my current girlfriend. But yes. Dean is completely smitten with you and has been since day one. You totally blew him off and he was put off a bit by it, but my brother doesn't ever back down from a challenge. I guess the challenge changed him a bit. The way he protects you and comforts you after something happens is something I have never seen with my brother when he's with girls. Never. He's fighting for you. Artemis, he's head over heels in love with you. Just like you are with him," he said.

"So why do I feel so horrible?" I asked.

"Because you know the consequences of what will happen if you tell him. It could go two different ways. One, he'll listen to what you have to say, get a bit pissed but realize maybe why you kept it from him, and kill the son of a bitch or get rid of the thing holding this curse over your head. Or two, he'll listen to what you have to say, get severely pissed off, and help get rid of the curse but end up walking out of your life. I'm hoping it will be choice A, but nothing is ever certain. You should of told him a long time ago," he said, causing me to sigh.

"I know, but it's been a burden I've carried by myself for so long. I've tried so hard to keep that barrier up that I built when I was younger, but you and Dean just tear it down. Why do you care so much?" I asked.

"We care because we want to care. Artemis, I love you like a sister. I do. You're such a pain in my ass sometimes that I sometimes wonder if you were really born into another family instead of ours. You're like the little sister that I never had and I wish I had. Dean feels the same way, but it's so much more for you, Artemis. So much more. I just really hope that you don't wait until the last minute and tell him. It'll kill him to learn it that way," he said, causing me to sigh.

"Yeah. So I've gathered. But what do we do about that banshee? You and I obviously both know that it wasn't there for Dean, you, or Kiki. You know it was after me," I said, causing him to nod.

"But it doesn't make sense. We should of heard it to be aware of an oncoming death. Not trying to kill you," he said.

"Well obviously. Bobby said he didn't want me coming out on the hunt and maybe this was his reason," I said, causing him to give me a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Bobby told me he didn't want me coming out on this hunt with this banshee. Well, if it was a banshee, which we obviously know is what we're hunting," I replied.

"Why wouldn't he want you out on this hunt? We kind of need you," he said.

"I know that. But I don't know. He said something about me being too emotionally unstable or something like that. Said something like that might make me a target for the banshee," I said, causing him to give me a look before starting to look through the papers again.

"When did Bobby tell you this?" he asked, causing me to shrug.

"Sometime after I had that break down and told you what I had done. Why? What's up?" I asked, causing him to put some cash on the table before collecting all of the papers and standing up.

"You just might have helped me solve this case. Come on," he said, causing me to give him a confused look but stand up nonetheless and follow him. I could tell that this wasn't going to be brought about real well to the other two.

* * *

"And you couldn't of shared this with us last night or the other night while we were driving to this town?" Told you.

"Are you that mentally fucked up, princess?" I gave Dean a glare and pushed him away from me as he got up into my face. Sure I probably deserved the yelling for not telling them about the information Bobby gave me, but how the bloody hell was I suppose to remember any of that when I was trying to avoid Dean and trying to stay alive with that banshee on my ass?

"Dean, don't. This isn't her fault," Sam said as he looked up from his laptop.

"Not her fault? Sam, if we would have known this little piece of information earlier on, we could have already found the fucking banshee and killed her. We could have kept her from being a target last night," he snapped, causing me to shove him once again.

"Don't go blaming this on me. So I guess I'm emotionally unstable and heart broken because I don't know what to do anymore about myself or even you for that bloody fucking matter. But don't blame this on me. Bobby could have told you himself about the god damn banshee and her god damn bloody fucking obsession with people who have emotional pain," I snapped.

"Oh really? So explain to me why we have about two more people who died last night when they probably could have been saved by this little piece of information you were holding back?" he asked, causing me to growl and shove him so hard that he lost his balance and fell backwards onto the bed.

"Alright! That's enough! I can't take it anymore with you two! If the two of you are going to kill each other, do it while I'm not here!" I blinked in surprise as Kiki stormed from the room, Sam giving us a slightly confused look before following his girlfriend out the door. I gave a sigh and ran a hand over my face in annoyance. What the hell was her problem?

"Well that's just peachy. Now I've got two bitches who are pissed off," Dean said, causing me to give him a glare as he shot me a dark look.

"Don't even start with that," I growled, causing his eyes to narrow into dangerous slits. It wasn't very often his eyes did that, but I knew that he was beyond pissed off by now.

"Don't start? Artemis, I don't even know where to begin with you let alone end any of it. It would help me sleep better at night if you would just let me in on what the hell is happening to you and why the fuck you're avoiding me like the plague. I deserve an explanation and you know it. Especially after what happened last night when you went all spastic on me," he said, causing me to roll my eyes and throw myself into the chair that Sam had previously been sitting in.

"Spastic? Is that even a word?" I asked.

"Shut up. You need to answer me," he replied, causing my eyes to narrow into slits and stand up.

"Excuse me? Who the bloody fuck do you think you are?" I asked as I made my way toward him. He better not be talking about me.

"You owe me explanations, princess. Don't think you don't," he replied as he stood up. I scowled and made to take a swing at him, but he merely caught my arm and swung me around and pulled me against his chest. I let out a frustrated growl and swung a leg backwards, but he was quick and avoided it. However, he seemed to trip over one of the bags sticking out from beneath the bed and fell backwards onto the bed. I struggled to get out of his grip again, but it was to no avail since he was holding tight.

"You done moving?" he asked, only to groan as I moved again. I stopped moving and blushed slightly as I felt what he was groaning about along the bottom of my back.

"No, no, no. Not now," I thought as I swallowed thickly and let out a sigh as my eyes slid shut. I couldn't do this now. I was pissed off with him. Now was not that time. But I couldn't help the thoughts that were flying into my mind of the last time. The slightest touch from him and I was always completely unraveling. The slightest touch and I felt safe. Normal in a sense.

"Artemis…."

"I can't do this anymore," I said before I flipped myself over so that I was straddling his waist. I saw the lust cloud over in his eyes and I shuddered at the feeling of his rough hands making their way up my bare legs since I was wearing a simple dark blue dress.

"Artemis…."

"I'm so emotionally unstable and so bloody fucked up in the head right now, I just don't care anymore," I said before yanking him up by his shirt and kissing him hard on the lips. He responded without hesitation and I gasped for air as he began to make his way down my neck.

"Bloody fuck," I moaned.

"We'll get there, princess. We'll get there," he said with a slight chuckle as his hands completely disappeared beneath my dress, chucking it across the room without much of a care before returning to his task of trying to mark up my neck. A small whimper escaped my lips, causing a growl to follow straight afterwards. I wasn't really in the mood for torture, no matter how great the reward at the end.

"No foreplay," I growled, tossing his shirt over my shoulder before kissing him hard on the lips again as my hands made their way down to his belt. He let out a groan and thrusted up as I brushed against his groin, a whine escaping from my lips as his lips attached to my neck once again and let his hands roam.

"That's not how it works, princess," he said, causing me to growl as I moved against him.

"I don't think you're in the mood for foreplay either," I said as he thrusted up again. He gave me a lustful glare before pulling me against him and kissing me hard once again as he pinned me down against the mattress.

"Always knew you were the one for the hard and dirty version," he said as he maneuvered out of his jeans and threw them across the room with my bra.

"If you can even handle it. Bloody fuck," I gasped as the touch of his fingers moving down my body sent shocks throughout my body, the wetness between my legs increasing with each shock. He gave me a playful glare before letting a smirk grace his lips as tossed my panties over his shoulder and pulled me up against him.

"Is that a challenge, princess?" he asked, a whimper escaping my lips as he bit down on my ear.

"You couldn't keep up," I replied with a taunting voice, only to let out a small squeak of surprise as I bounced back against the pillows with Dean hovering over me within seconds.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, princess," he said before he kissed me hard on the lips. A battle of dominance ensured that I knew I could never win, even if I tried my bloody hardest. He was too intoxicating. Suddenly, a whimper escaped from my lips that followed with a strangled cry as Dean stilled above me and gave me a look of concern as he wiped at the tears slowly falling from my eyes.

"It's been a while," I said, wincing as he shifted slightly.

"I wonder why," he said, causing me to give him a hard look.

"Just because I'm a cold hearted bitch doesn't mean I'm not experienced or whatnot," I said, pushing up against him. He swallowed slightly as his eyes darkened even more with lust, allowing me the advantage to flip us over. I gave him a smirk and nipped hard at his neck, causing him to groan slightly.

"Care to prove it, princess?" he asked before he gripped the back of my thighs roughly and easily turned us so that he was on top again. I opened my mouth to retort but gasped as a jolt of pleasure shot up my spine, my mind completely going blank as I felt him nip at my ear.

"God you're so tight. So beautiful," he said as he thrusted harder, causing me to wrap my legs around his waist tighter as I tried to match the hard and fast rhythm he was setting into motion. My nails dug into his back as they maneuvered upward toward the back of his neck, lips crashing against his. Never had I been so hypnotized and undone before in my entire life. Never had I been so loved and cherished before in my entire life. Not until this particular point. Not until Dean Winchester. It was….

"Bloody fuck," I moaned as I felt a wave of pleasure wash over my body. I could feel my orgasm building strength with each thrust becoming deeper and harder, another moan escaping my lips as I felt him put pressure on my clit.

"Oh god. Please," I whimpered.

"Talk to me, princess. Tell me what you want," he said, a smirk gracing his lips as he pulled his face slightly away from mine in order to lock eyes. If I wasn't so lost I would have knocked the smirk right off his face, but I let out a cry as I felt his thumb brush against me again.

"Talk to me, princess," he said as he did it again, causing me to gasp as I struggled to get the words out.

"Harder. Please," I said, causing him the smirk to widen before he pulled me into a searing kiss as he brushed against me harder. I could feel myself beginning to lose control as I felt him nip at my ear.

"Come on, Artemis. Come for me," he whispered, causing stars to explode as I felt his name ring clearly in my ears with it leaving my lips. I felt his release follow immediately as he growled my name and let his head drop into the crook of my neck. Silence filled the air as we lay there panting and gasping for air, neither of us making to move with the knowing possibility that Sam and Kiki could come back at any time. I didn't care. It wasn't as if anything could get any worse. I think. Right?

"Hey." I glanced at Dean as he shifted to the side of me and gave me a look. It was filled with so many emotions that this moment that happened between us and now was beginning to quickly diminish as I thought about what had just happened and why.

"Oh god," I whispered as I felt the tears begin to form in my eyes. What had I done?

"Hey. What's the matter?" he asked, giving me a look of concern as his left hand came up and stroked the side of my face. How could I tell him? He was going to hate me.

"Hey. Talk to me. Artemis, talk….." I let out a cry and covered my ears as best as I could as a shriek rang throughout the room, shattering any and all glassware within the room. There was no doubt that the banshee was back and wanting to finish the job she had started yesterday in the bathroom. I could feel my head beginning to pound severely and I was beginning to feel the blackness of unconsciousness starting to sink in when I heard the shotgun being fired before Dean pulling me up against him tightly.

"Hey. Talk to me, Artemis. You alright?" he asked as he stroked at my face. My head was pounding intensely and I struggled to open up my eyes. Seeing the concern that was written on his face caused me to whimper just slightly, causing Dean to pull me tighter against him. What was I going to do?

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"I don't like that idea, Sam, and you know it."

"What choice do we have, Dean? If we don't stop the banshee now, someone else is going to end up dead. She's the only one that is emotionally unstable out of the four of us and we all know now that the banshee is after her. There is no way around it." I gave my brother a dirty look as I stood up from the table and began to pace. Kiki and Artemis sat on one of the beds watching us as Sam and I discussed how to get kill the banshee. I glanced quickly at Artemis, causing her to give me a look before she turned her attention to Sam as he said something.

"Something is seriously wrong," I thought as I sat back down at the table. The moment we shared prior to the banshee was absolutely incredible and wonderful, but it turned cold and slightly uncomfortable when she started to get upset. It was just bugging the hell out of me about what was up with her.

"That's how the legend goes, Sam." I snapped out of my thoughts as Artemis stood up from the bed and gave my brother a glare.

"How the hell are we suppose to get that if it's on her?" he asked.

"The legend goes that banshees are always women and they have some kind of beautiful, silver comb that you should never pick up. If you do, you're supposedly whisked away by the banshee herself or something along those lines. You said that you and Kiki found out who the banshee was before she died and obviously nothing happened with the salting and burning of the bones since she attacked us. Or me for that matter. That comb has to be the link that's keeping her here and attacking people," she replied.

"Doesn't explain how we're going to get it from her," Kiki said, causing Artemis to roll her eyes.

"We'll trap her with salt. She's like a demon or a ghost. We'll trap her somehow and kill her. But that doesn't mean we're going to use Artemis as bait. I've had enough of using her as bait," I said.

"Well incase you haven't noticed, Dean, but Artemis is the only one out of the four of us that is so emotionally unstable that it will attract anything to her. Not to mention that the Ireland legend goes that the banshee only appears to the family of someone who is about to die," Kiki said.

"Kiki!" Artemis snapped, causing me to raise an eyebrow. What was that about?

"No. I'm done, Artemis. You have to tell him," she said, causing me to look at Sam as he put a hand over his face and shook his head. Something was going on here and I wasn't liking it.

"Kiki, this is none of your business," Artemis said.

"It is because you're my best friend and you're hurting Dean by not telling him that you're going to die in less than two weeks because of some god damn deal you made with a reaper," she snapped, causing Sam to swear and my head to snap in the direction of Artemis as she tried hard to control the temper that I could see boiling. What was Kiki going on about?

"Artemis, what is she talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing," she replied as Kiki scoffed.

"Nothing. It is something, Artemis. You're…."

"Kiki! That's enough! It isn't your place," Sam snapped as he stood up, causing me to shake my head.

"Sam, what is going on? What aren't you people telling me?" I asked as I looked between the three of them. Sam was giving Kiki a glare as she and Artemis glared at one another. This was getting to be too much.

"You claim to love him and yet you would rather keep the consequences to your curse to yourself than let him help. Or at least know the truth. The fact that you had to make a deal in order to save him from suffering a sudden death like your father and your boyfriend at 15 because you loved them. The curse that your step-mother put on you because she spited you. You should have told him right from the start because you knew this was the god damn consequence for spewing those words," Kiki said, causing me to freeze in everything I was thinking or doing to look at Artemis. I didn't even move as Artemis stared at Kiki for a second before launching herself at her best friend, Sam pulling her off of Kiki and holding tight to her as she struggled to get out of his grip. I couldn't believe it. She did what?

"This has nothing to do with you! You had no right to say what you did!" she yelled as Sam did everything in his power to keep her from getting out of his grip. Those words seemed to snap me back into reality as I narrowed my eyes in her direction.

"So when the fuck were you going to tell me? In your last hour of life?" I asked, causing her to stop struggling and give me a look. The look was filled with so many emotions, but that didn't matter to me at the moment as anger began to take over me.

"Huh? That was what this god damn curse was about? Saying "I love you" to someone and truly meaning it? When the fuck were you going to let me in on this little secret that everyone apparently seems to have known for a while? When the fuck were you going to tell me that you sacrificed yourself for me? Huh?" I asked.

"How the bloody fuck was I suppose to tell you, Dean? You and your god damn bloody brother broke down that god damn wall that I built up for so many years because of this reason! Sam would of never forgiven me if I had just let you go! I made a bargain and I've got less than two weeks to find the cure or I'll drop dead right then and there! How the bloody fuck was I suppose to tell you, Dean?" she snapped, causing my eyes to narrow.

"You could of told me from the start, Artemis. It would have been nice to know before something like this started," I snapped, causing her eyes to narrow as well as elbowed Sam so hard in the stomach that he doubled over. She moved away from him and planted herself right in front of me.

"And what would you have done, Dean? Left me alone to my own little world? This is just as much your fault as it is mine. You broke down that wall and I allowed it. Do not put this all on me. It's not my fault you're as stupid as you look and couldn't figure out what the curse was. There was enough hints dropped by everyone and you are the only one that didn't get it," she snapped.

"We could have prevented it from happening, Artemis," I snapped back, causing her to scoff.

"You can't stop love, Dean. I knew this was a mistake when we first ran into you and Sam at the asylum, but did anyone listen to me? No. And look where it got us," she said, causing me to give her a look before turning and grabbing my bag.

"You're right. It was all just a mistake that should of never happened. Get your things. We're going after the banshee," I said before slamming the door shut and heading to the Impala. Throwing open the trunk, I tossed my bag inside before lifting the compartment where we stored our weapons.

"Dean."

"I don't want to talk about it, Sam," I said as my brother leaned against the Impala.

"Dean…"

"Why didn't you just tell me, Sam?" I asked, causing him to sigh and look at me.

"It wasn't my place and you know it. She had to tell you on her own terms. Kiki should have never said anything to you. But this is why she's been on nerves end since the whole motel thing back in Utah. Dean, she's going to die if we don't do something," he replied, causing me to scoff.

"Like we're actually going to be able to figure out this before her time is up. Looks like she's about to get her wish of not living anymore," I said as I shut the trunk and walked toward the driver's side.

"You can't be serious," he said, causing me to turn around and face him.

"Does it look like I'm joking? The damn girl played me, Sam," I snapped.

"So what? You're just not going to help? You're just going to let her die because she didn't come straight out and tell you that she could die from saying "I love you" and meaning it? Dean, this girl has gone through so much in her entire life that you're just going to say "fuck it" and be done with it?" he asked.

"It was a mistake, Sam. It should of never happened," I replied, causing him to shake his head in disbelief.

"You're unbelievable. It was never a mistake, Dean. She loves you," he said, causing me to snort with laughter.

"I'm sure she does. Seducing me to sleeping with her and letting me tell her that I love her is loving me. Yeah. I'm sure she does. Get the two of them to hurry up. The banshee is bound to strike again," I said as I slid into the car and slam the door shut. I watched as my brother ran a hand over his face in frustration before heading back inside the motel to get the two girls. Once he had disappeared into the motel room, I stared at the door for about a second before slamming my hands against the steering wheel in anger. How the hell could I of been so stupid? I couldn't believe she had done that to me. I couldn't believe I had let myself get so vulnerable to something like this. This had to be nothing more than a mistake between the two of us. Right?

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"Hey." I looked up as Sam cautiously approached me.

"Hey," I said as he sat down next to me and held out a plate of oatmeal raisin cookies and a bottle of water out to me.

"Peace offering from Kiki. She's really sorry," he said, causing me to sigh and take the plate and water from him before turning my attention back toward the yard of cars Bobby kept on his property. We were back at Bobby's after destroying the banshee the other day and Bobby and Sam were looking into what we could possibly do to stop the curse. Kiki hadn't said a word to me until now with the peace offering of cookies Sam had brought out and I wanted to just throw the plate into the dirt in front of me, but I couldn't bring myself to be mad at her. No matter how horrible it was to me and Dean.

Dean.

He hadn't said one word to me since we left the motel to kill the banshee. I didn't blame him, but I couldn't help but want to cry over the entire situation. Like I had been with him prior to the banshee, he was being like that to me. And it hurt.

"Bobby's looking into the curse thing. We got just a little over a week left to figure it out," he said, causing me to sigh and hang my head just a little.

"I don't know if it's worth it, Sam," I said, causing him to give me a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Dean's mad at me, Sam. He hates me. I knew this would happen. You two destroyed this wall down and left me vulnerable. And look what happened. I let my heart be taken and now it's broken because this whole thing between Dean and I was nothing more than a mistake. Finding that cure doesn't really feel worth it. Not with Dean hating me," I replied, causing him to shake his head.

"You two are more stubborn and alike than I realized. Artemis, Dean loves you and you love him. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You two are made for each other and yes you were wrong to keep him in the dark, but you said it. He's at fault for this just as much as you. But that is no reason to want to just give up in the search for this cure. We are going to find it and then you and Dean are going to be locked in a room and not be allowed out until you figure out all of these problems and claim you love each other without the repercussions. You two are going to be married and have 10 children and teach them how to hunt all these evil bastards. And you're going to grow old together. No questions about it. You two are not going to find anyone else that will put up with your bullshit. You two were made for each other," he said, causing me to wipe at my eyes as tears began to form in them.

"It's not going to happen, Sam. No matter how much I want it, it won't happen. Even if we find that cure, I'm going to have to lock my heart back up again. I don't think that we can ever build a strong trust like we had. It's broken, Sam. Our relationship with one another is broken. I don't think there is anything I can do to fix it. I'm at a loss, Sam," I said as I wiped furiously at the tears. It didn't seem to work as they just became a waterfall. Sam let out a sigh and I allowed myself to be enveloped into a hug, the front of his shirt becoming wet as I just let all my emotions out.

"It's going to be alright. We're going to fix this. I promise," he said as he kissed the top of my head and held me tight against him. Fix it? There was no way I could fix this. I had royally fucked everything up. Especially with Dean. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to fix this. It was so horrible. I was at a loss. I really was. I had basically destroyed what was built in my life because of Sam and Dean and there was no definite way to fix it. I had lost the one thing that seemed to be the most important and he hated me. No matter which way this curse thing went, I was going to or I had already lost Dean.

I was royally screwed with whatever way my life was going. No doubts about it.


	21. Chapter 20: The Curse of the Past Part I

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

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**Author's Note****:** Hey guys. So this story is quickly coming to its end as there will be one more chapter after this and then the epilogue. But my writing won't stop there. In one of the earlier chapters that had an author's note, it was mentioned that there will be two more stories that will be sequels to this one. Also, I've posted a picture of what Athena looks like in my profile page. She will become a huge character within the squeal to Slightest Touch. Thanks so much for your reviews! Enjoy!

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**The Curse of the Past: Part I**

"Are you sure there's nothing?" There's something alright.

"Are you sure you've check every available source you can get your hands on?" Probably not.

"Alright. Thanks, Bobby. Ok. Well Bobby is coming up with absolutely nothing regarding this curse. He's never even heard of it. He's checked everything he can and he's still going to check, but I think we might be on our own here with trying to solve this curse before the week is up."

"And why would we want to do that?"

"Dean!" I watched Dean give a glare to Kiki through the rearview mirror as she rested back against her seat with a dirty look before sighing and putting away my iPod to give my attention to Sam, who at the moment was surfing through his laptop to see what he could find out about this curse that we already didn't know. He turned his head, however, when he felt me looking at him.

"Athena going to meet us at your house?" he asked, causing me to shake my head.

"We're not going to my house, Sam," I replied, causing Dean to look over with an irritated look.

"What do you mean we're not going to your house? Where the hell are you taking us?" he asked.

"My house," I replied, causing him to give me a confused, angry look as he tried to comprehend what I was saying.

"You just said that we….."

"I know what I said, Dean. I'm not entirely as stupid as you may think me to be. We're going to my house because it might have some clues as to what the hell my step-mother used or did to put the curse on me. Having a little bit of a hard time deciphering my words?" I asked, a hint of sarcasm on the last sentence. He gave me a dirty look before focusing his attention back onto the road. It had been like this since we left Bobby's and although it was hurting me and slowly tearing me apart inside, I was determined to keep my mind focused on the task at hand. I had promised Sam I would try.

"I'm having a little bit of a hard time comprehending what your saying, Artemis. I'm just as confused as Dean," Sam said, causing me to sigh and rub my temples.

"She means that we're going to her childhood home. The one she lived in before her parent's death. God. Are guys always reading somewhere other than between the lines?" she asked as she gave me a look. I merely shrugged before giving Sam my attention again.

"My parents left me everything upon turning 18 years of age. Which included our house. Athena and David have kind of been taking care of the maintenance for me while I've been out on the road fighting. I know you're trying to help so I figured it might be a good place to start since Bobby doesn't have any leads and can't find anything so far in the books," I said, causing him to nod.

"It might be a good start," he said with a nod. I nodded as well before leaning back against the seat. Glancing up at Dean, I let out a sigh as I watched him mindlessly tap the steering wheel to a Metallica. He sensed me looking at him and let his emotionless eyes lock with mine, causing a shiver to run down my spine as I turned my gaze to the scenery that was passing by us outside the window. This really sucked. About an hour or so later, I felt the Impala roll to a stop and I let my eyes shift open as Dean cut the engine and Sam and Kiki's conversation die down. Sitting up, I swallowed slightly as the memories of my childhood home trickled into my mind.

"Artemis?" I snapped my head in Sam's direction as he looked at me with slight concern.

"Are you alright?" he asked, causing me to nod before I got out of the car and looked back at the house. Nothing had really changed since I left almost 14 years ago. The house still gleamed as white as it had been when I was 8 as well as the grass being cut and taking care of thanks to David and Athena attending to it. Letting my fingers linger over the rope of the swing on the tree in the front yard, I let out a sigh as I realized that this perfect little scenery wasn't going to last long once we set foot inside.

"Artemis? Are you alright?" I nodded slightly and turned to see the other three as they stood on the small walkway leading up to the front porch watching me very carefully.

"Let's go in. The neighbors don't look too friendly like they did 14 years ago," I said as I walked up to the porch and began to rummage through my pockets for my keys. Pulling them out, I stared at them for a good couple of seconds before placing the key into the lock and turning.

"Artemis…."

"Don't, Sam," I said before I pushed the door open and stepped inside. It was slightly dark in the house as I had all the curtains and blinds drawn, causing me to flip a switch on the wall that lit up the foyer area that we were standing in as Dean shut the door and took a look around.

"Ever hear of dusting, princess?" he asked as he swept a finger over the side table and looked at me.

"I haven't been here in about 14 years, Dean," I said as I flipped some more switches and lighting up the living room and dining room areas to the front and back of us. He was right in a sense. It was so dusty in here that I didn't know how any of us could manage to stand there looking around without hacking or coughing our lungs out.

"The outside looks better than the inside," Kiki said as she slowly gazed around the living room.

"Athena and David come by at least once or twice a week to make sure everything is ok and that the outside looks nice. Keeps people away from the house. Plus there's salt on every windowsill and in front of every door as well as a devil's trap on the ceiling of every room in this house just in case. I'm not as stupid as I look," I said, causing Dean to snort with laughter and give me a mocking look as I gave him a glare. He merely rolled his eyes and continued looking around the room.

"So where do we start?" Sam asked as he brought the topic back around.

"Maybe the bedroom. Or possibly the bathroom where she killed herself. Both were places she spent a great deal of time in when she wasn't doing something with my dad or her daughters and Bryce," I replied as I nodded toward the stairs. He gestured toward the stairs and I took that as my cue to continue leading them on. Slowly making my way up the stairs, I let out a sigh as I flipped another switch and the hallway lit up to reveal six different doors along the wall. Making my way toward the door at the farthest end of the hallway, I stopped when I heard Dean chuckle.

"Not a girlie girl my ass, Summers," he said, causing me to turn around as he stared at the first door on the right hand side. My room. The door was sporting a faded pink and white type of decoration with my name written across the door all princess like.

"My mom decorated the door and my room for me, Dean," I said as I gave him a cold hard glare. He stared at me for a second before slightly coughing and rubbing the back of his neck as he began to feel uncomfortable. Good. Let him be. Let him take his medicine with what he was dishing to me.

"Hey Art? Why is this door charred to hell?" I turned to Sam and let my eyes shift to what he was looking at diagonally from my room. Letting out a small sigh and running a hand through my hair, I walked toward it and gently pushed it open. Kiki gasped as both Dean and Sam swore.

"After my mom died, my dad couldn't bring himself to redo the room. It was like a reminder of the hell we went through. I wanted to at least fix the door so nobody would know what was wrong with the room, especially after my dad remarried the bitch I called my step-mother. So he redid one of the guest rooms so that Bryce could have a room to sleep in," I replied.

"And you couldn't redo it?" Kiki asked, causing me to give her a dirty look.

"I haven't been home in nearly 14 years. Good enough answer?" I asked with sarcasm before I turned around and opened up another door. My parent's bedroom. Flipping on the light, I made my way over toward the bathroom and flipped on that light before I stepped back and gestured for Sam to take a look. I didn't need to know why he was swearing as he looked around the bathroom.

"You didn't touch this room either? What the hell happened in here?" he asked as he gave me a look.

"My step-mother committed suicide in here. Took a gun to her head. It was several days to about two to three weeks before we were able to come back into this bathroom. And before my dad even had a chance to clean any of this up, he died. The curse took his life about a month after my step-mother took her life. So I kind of just let this room go too," I replied, causing the three of them to look at one another before looking at me.

"Are you usually this calm about situations like this?" Dean asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I've been relatively calm around you, haven't I?" I asked with sarcasm, which caused him to look at me for a quick second before narrowing his eyes in agitation. He opened his mouth to retort but Sam beat him to it.

"Alright, you two. That's enough. We've got work to do and little time to do it in. We're going to have to tear this house upside down and check every crack and corner for any possible clues to what the hell the step-mother was doing when she decided to curse Artemis. I'm going to start here in the bathroom and work my way into the bedroom. Dean can help while you two girls start on the downstairs. Kiki, there are a bunch of books I took from Bobby's that you should probably bring inside and look through," he said, causing Dean to grunt in response and me and Kiki to nod before we headed downstairs and split up, her heading outside to the Impala and me to the kitchen. I switched on the light and looked around.

"Still looks the same," I muttered as I looked around the room. Even after my mother had passed away and my father had remarried that awful bitch, my father wouldn't allow my step-mother to change anything within our house because it reminded him of my mother. Actually, I think he only did it for me and my brother. Mainly me since my brother was only 6 months old when my mother died, but he had told me once that my mother's spirit still lived on in this house and that changing anything would cause her to go away. I still believed it to this day, but nobody knew it but myself and it was something I kept locked deep inside the once icy walls of my heart.

"So where to begin without tearing it completely apart?" I muttered as I took one last glance around the kitchen before starting at the farthest cabinet from me. Hopping up onto the counter, I opened the cabinet and began to carefully take the glassware out. Most of it I knew would in some kind of fragile state and I didn't want to break any of it since a lot of the pieces were antique dishes that had been passed down from both sides of my family dating back to at least my great-great-great-great grandparents on my father's side.

"Don't need my mother's spirit angry with me," I thought as I continued to rummage through each crack and corner of the kitchen, occasionally stopping to listen to Kiki out in the living room and the occasional thumping of Sam and Dean upstairs. I didn't like the idea of tearing the house apart, but I knew Sam was right in that we had to search for anything and everything that could get me out of the deal. As I made to open the last cabinet, a small thump sounded behind me and I whirled around. There was nothing there and I shook my head slightly as I began to turn around to finish up. However, the sound came again and I whirled around once again to stare at the basement door across the kitchen as the small thump came again from that direction.

"Always the basement," I muttered as I drew my hand gun from the back of my jeans and cocked it as I carefully unlocked the basement door and cautiously opened it. Peering down the darkened steps, I tried the switch and cursed when the light would come on.

"Of course. Of all the scariest places in the house, the basement light doesn't want to work. Great," I said with sarcasm as I dug out my cell phone and flipped it open to give me some light as I slowly began to make my way down the steps. I had always hated the basement and this was no different as I reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. As it was when I was growing up, it was slightly cluttered with everything and anything my parents could have gotten their hands on. Most of the stuff was old antique stuff meant for Bryce and myself as we got older and out on our own while some of the stuff was just boxes of pictures and stuff as Bryce and I grew up.

"Always a keeper of memories, mom," I said with a small chuckle as I blew the dust away from a picture frame that had me, my baby brother, and my parents in it that was taken at least a week or two before my mother had died. As I ran a finger over the glass, I felt the room beginning to drop it's temperature slightly, causing me to set the picture down and pick up my gun. As I made to move toward the stairs, the basement door slammed shut and I let out a blood curdling scream as I felt myself slam hard into the wall and darkness take over.

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"I can't believe the amount of dried up blood I'm having to wipe out of my way, including the amount of shit in these cabinets." I looked up from tearing apart the closet as Sam came out of the bathroom with an irritated look on his face.

"She's hasn't clean this place in about 14 years. How the hell has she managed to keep this place around if it's so dusty and most of the rooms looking like hell?" he asked, causing me to roll my eyes.

"It's Artemis, Sam. None of us will ever be able to figure her out. And even if we do, it would probably more than likely be a bunch of lies or hidden truths," I replied, causing him to frown.

"Dean, that's enough. We've got less than a week before Artemis drops dead right in front of us and all you can do is be a dick. So she screwed up by not telling you and doing whatever the hell you think she did to you. So what? Get over it for now. This is important and she's going to die if we don't help her. So get your head out of your ass and stop being a dick," he snapped, causing my eyes to narrow. Who the hell did my little brother think he was talking to me this way about something as aggravating as what was going on between me and Artemis? How the hell could he take her side? Opening my mouth to retort, I didn't even get the first syllable out when a blood curdling scream faintly ripped through the house, causing Sam and I to look at one another before hurrying out of the room.

"Kiki!" Sam yelled as we flew down the stairs, only to crash into her as she came from the living room with fear in her eyes.

"Where's Artemis?" I asked as I realized she wasn't with Kiki.

"The last I knew she was in the kitchen. Did you…."

"Yeah. Artemis!" I yelled as I drew out my gun and quickly made my way toward the kitchen. Scanning the room, I could see that it was messy from her searching for whatever it was she was looking for in this case, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary as I slowly made my way around the room.

"Where the hell is she? She didn't come to you at all, Kiki?" Sam asked, causing Kiki to shake her head.

"No. Not at all," she replied.

"Anything out of the ordinary?" he asked as he looked at me. I shook my head as I stood up from my crouched position by the back door as I examined the salt and was about to say something when I noticed the kitchen window open just slightly. Crossing the room, I realized that it wasn't open completely, but anyone who was looking at it from a distance wouldn't have noticed it.

"Fuck."

"What's wrong?" Kiki asked as I turned and surveyed the room again.

"Salt line on the window has been undone just slightly. Something could have gotten in either now or before we even got here. You sure she didn't come by you?" I asked, causing her to shake her head.

"I heard the scream just like you guys," she replied.

"Hey guys. The salt line by this door has been broken." I shifted my eyes over to my brother as stood up from the kitchen floor by a door that could have possibly been a basement.

"You think she might of gone down there?" she asked, causing him to shrug.

"I don't know. She could have, but we don't know if that scream came from her or something that could have possibly gotten in here," he replied as I walked over toward him and tried turning the handle, only to discover that it was locked. Flipping the door's lock, I tried again and frowned when it didn't budge.

"Do doors normally keep locked after unlocking them from the outside?" I asked, causing both Sam and Kiki to frown as I tried the door again.

"Artemis?" Sam called, only to receive no answer. I swore before I kicked at the door. Unlike a regular door, I had to put a little bit of muscle behind before the wood work cracked and Sam helped me yank the door back. Realizing the switch didn't work, I grabbed a flashlight before hurrying down the steps.

"Artemis?" Kiki asked as she and Sam quickly followed. Flashing my light around the basement, I saw that the basement was packed full of boxes and other things that caused me to swear. With it being so cluttered, she should have been within eye view, but she was nowhere to be found. And that worried me.

"Dean, she's down here somewhere. Or at least was. There's fresh blood," Sam said, causing me to look over at my brother as he brought his hand up from the floor to show his fingers covered in red. I swore and immediately started to move things around.

"Search every inch of this god damn room. She's in here somewhere," I said.

"Dean? Are you feeling ok?" Kiki asked, causing me to stop and look at her.

"What?" I asked.

"Just a little bit ago you didn't give a damn whether she died or not because you were so pissed off at her. Now you're in a panic because something's happened to her? Who the hell are you?" Sam asked, causing me to scoff.

"You should know by now that just because I'm pissed doesn't mean I actually want her to die. What happened between us was a mistake, but that's no reason that she needs to die. Now our job is to help people and kill evil bastards so they don't hurt people ever again. And that includes Artemis. So get your ass moving," I said as I tossed aside a box. I knew what they were saying, but just because I was severely pissed off at her didn't mean that she had to die.

"I'm getting EMF readings all over the place. Something was definitely down here," Sam said as he held the EMF reader up for us to see. It was lit up like crazy, causing me to swear as I continued to move the boxes. I was beginning to wonder how the hell she could of disappeared into thin air when I heard Kiki gasp.

"Sam! Dean!" she yelled, causing both of us to drop the boxes in our hands and hurry over to the other side of the room where she was. She was frantically moving boxes and let out a cry that caused both Sam and I to swear up a storm as we saw bits of her body begin to appear. Kicking the boxes away, I knelt down and gently moved her body out from beneath the remaining boxes before looking at the other two in slight fright. Her body was bruised and bloodied as if she had just lost a fight for her life, which she was barely breathing.

"Kiki, get on the phone right now and call up Athena. Tell her we need her immediately. Sam, get out to the Impala now and get what we need to fix her up," I said as I picked her up as gently as I could and headed for the stairs. As Kiki and Sam went outside, I headed into the living room and pulled the plastic covering off the couch before gently laying her down.

"What the hell did this?" Sam asked as he came back inside and handed me the bag we kept all of our medical stuff in.

"Who the hell knows. But whatever it was, it got her good. Start on her face while I check for any cuts and bruises that we can't see," I replied as I gently took off her jacket and slightly lifted her shirt. I swore when I saw the huge black and blue marks that were forming on her sides and stomach. Looking to her legs, I saw that her jeans were tore up pretty bad and I knew that there would have to probably be stitches.

"Athena's on her way and she's pissed."

"Pissed about what?" Sam asked as he looked over at me before looking at his girlfriend as she came into the room.

"Uh….I think it would be better to let her explain when she gets here. I really didn't catch all the words since she was yelling so loud that I think my ears are still ringing. How's she doing?" she asked as she motioned to her friend.

"Alright. For now anyway. She needs stitches on her left leg, but….."

"Dean?" My eyes shifted from Kiki to Sam as he looked up at me with slight concern.

"What?" I asked, not liking the look he was giving me as he moved his hands down to her stomach before lifting her shirt up. I looked at where he was looking and let my eyes widen in shock and confusion before looking up at Sam as he pressed a cloth to a newly made cut on her stomach.

"They're appearing on her face too," he said as he motioned to Kiki to take his place as he stood up and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Calling Bobby to see if he's heard of this. This is way unusual," he replied as he dialed Bobby's number and waited for him to pick up. I had to agree. This was way unusual. I had never heard of something like this happening and it was bugging me that it was something we couldn't figure out on our own to wake her up. It was killing me actually. There was no telling if she was ever going to wake up again.

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

_In her mind_

"_Time to wake up." I let out a groan as I felt my head pounding as if I had just been run over by a truck. Shifting my eyes open against their will, I found myself laying on the cold cement floor with a blurry figure kneeling next to me. Blinking my eyes in order for them to readjust themselves, I quickly sat up and backed into the wall away from the figure, wincing as my head connected slightly with the wall. _

"_Come with me, Artemis."_

"_Mom?" I asked with slight hesitation in my voice. The figure simply smiled and stood up before making her way toward the stairs. I watched as she ascended the stairs and then turned to me with a gentle look and beckoning for me to follow her before walking through the door. I stared at the door in fright before shakily getting to my feet and starting for the stairs._

"_This has to be some kind of trick. Sam! Dean! Kiki!" I yelled as I moved my hand along the waist of my jeans to grab my gun, only to find that it wasn't there. Frantically looking around, I swallowed in slight fear when I realized that I couldn't find nor had Sam, Dean, or Kiki answered my call. However, the sound of children laughing pulled me from my mind frame and caused me to look at the basement door._

"_What the hell is going on?" I muttered as I cautiously moved toward the basement door to open it. However, I found my hand going right through the knob to the other side of the door. Looking at the door in slight confusing and shock, I swallowed my growing fear and walked toward the door. Walking through it, I let out a cry before covering my mouth in shock as tears began to form. Not only because I was looking at my father sitting at the island in the kitchen reading a cookbook but because I was dead. I was a spirit. A thing I hunted._

"_You're not dead, sweetheart." I whirled around and backed away slightly as I watched my mother walk slowly toward me._

"_But you are," I said, causing her to chuckle._

"_Only in here," she said as she touched the side of head, causing me to move away from her._

"_What did you do?" I asked._

"_I did nothing but lock you inside your mind," she replied, causing me to give her a crazy look._

"_Lock me inside my mind? You attacked me," I snapped, causing her to shake her head._

"_If I wanted to hurt you, I would have already done so and you would not be standing here. You always did have your father's sense of stubbornness," she said._

"_What do you want? If I'm locked inside my mind, why? Why am I staring at my father as he's reading a god damn bloody cookbook?" I asked._

"_Language, Artemis. I raised you better than that. I am trying to help you," she replied._

"_Why? I'm suppose to be killing you right now. Or at least burning your body to get rid of you. That's what I'm suppose to do," I said._

"_I am trying to help you uncover the truth. The truth you've been searching for. One of the reasons you became who you are," she said, causing me to give her a confused look. _

"_What are you…"_

"_Daddy!" I stopped mid-sentence and turned my head from my mother to see a little girl of about 7 or 8 running into the kitchen. She was wearing a light blue sundress with white kittens stitched into it and her hair pulled back into pigtails with blue fluffy balls attached to the top of the pigtails. She was carrying a pink rabbit that was so familiar looking._

"_Mr. Hoppy," I muttered as my hand slightly covered my mouth in shock. I was staring at my 8 year old self as this very memory of my father and myself flew into my mind. It was days after the funeral of my baby brother and I had rarely separated myself from my father, much to the displeasure of my step-mother._

"_Daddy, Jenna yelled at me," she said, giving my father a tearful look as he hoisted her up onto his lap._

"_What did you do?" he asked._

"_She slapped Jasmine and kicked Jamie." I could feel my blood beginning to boil as I turned my head to find my step-mother walking in, two young girls, my step-sisters at the time, following her with tear-stained faces. God how I hated the three of them._

"_They were dressing up Mr. Nibbles and he wasn't liking it. He was trying to get away, but they wouldn't let him. They were holding him down and everything. I had to help him," my younger self said as she clutched Mr. Hoppy to her chest._

"_Did not!"_

"_He tried to bite us!"_

"_That's not true!" my younger self yelled._

"_Danny, I told you that we should have gotten rid of that dog a long time ago. This is one too many times that he has tried to bite Jasmine and Jamie. He's even tried to bite me. The dog needs to go," Jenna said as she gave my father a pointed look. _

"_He doesn't like you because you treat him bad. Daddy, you know Mr. Nibbles never tries to bite anyone on purpose. Not even the mailman," my younger self said as she gave her father a scared look. A look I could remember giving to him in fear of losing my dog. Although he didn't last much longer because he died from the curse just like my father did._

"_Jenna, that dog has been in our family since a couple of weeks before Annabelle died when Bryce and Artemis were young. I told you that the dog belongs to my daughter and I'm not getting rid of it just because you want it gone. I have seen how your daughters have treated Mr. Nibbles and I don't believe he tried to bite them on purpose. I will not have this argument with you again so do not bring it up. Simply stay away from the dog and it'll stay away from you, Jasmine, and Jamie. Simple enough," my father said, causing Jenna to give him a glare._

"_Simple enough will be that I will be calling the police to have the pound come and take the dog away to be put down if it tries to bite me or my daughters again," she said._

"_Jenna, I am not having this argument with you. I know you're still hurting about Bryce. Artemis and I are as well and are taking it much harder than you since we lost a wife and a mother as well as a son and a little brother in the last three years. But we are trying our best to get through each day peacefully. But it won't be peaceful unless you quit your antics, especially about my daughter's dog. You have that dog taken away and killed, I will divorce you and sue you for everything you own so help me god," he said, causing me to laugh at the facial expression on my step-mother's face despite the situation I was currently in._

"_I can not believe you would sacrifice your wife and daughters' lives over some stupid dog. You can sleep on the couch tonight. Come with me, Jasmine and Jamie," she said, giving my younger self and my father a dirty look before leading her daughters out of the kitchen._

"_I can definitely tell where I get my attitude and temper from. Especially since the dog died a couple of days later. God I fucking bloody hated her and her daughters," I growled as I turned my attention to my mother._

"_Come," she said as she made her way out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. Glancing back at my father and younger self once more, I followed my mother out of the kitchen and upstairs where Jenna and her daughters had disappeared to. Frowning in confusion when I didn't see them, my mother simply walked toward a second set of stairs at the end of the hallway that led to the attic. Curious, I followed her up the steps and stepped through the closed door. _

"_I don't know how you can stand doing that," I said with a frown as I looked at my mother. But she wasn't even paying attention to me, causing me to look in the direction she was looking in and raising an eyebrow at the sight of my step-mother and her daughters. What the hell were they doing?_

"_Jasmine, go lift up the floorboard by the window and bring me the small box that is sitting in there," my step-mother said as one of the girls got up and headed toward the window. I watched as she carefully lifted up the floorboard and produced a small wooden box, in which she brought to her mother. Curious as to what it was, I walked closer to them. However, I stopped upon seeing what they were sitting on. Stepping back slightly, I saw them sitting around some kind of symbol that had been drawn out on the floor and was surrounded by several candles with a small bowl full of something in the middle of the entire thing._

"_I want you to listen to me and listen to me very carefully girls. Nobody is to know what is about to happen. Do you understand me?" she asked, carefully working the locks on the box as the two girls nodded. I watched as she carefully removed something from the box and held it up for the two girls to see. I gasped as my hand flew to my neck where the same necklace hanging in around my neck was hanging in my step-mother's hand. My father had given it to me just a few days before he had died and I had never taken it off except to have the chain resized and the necklace clean. It was a silver necklace spelling out my first name with little white diamonds outlining the edges. It was the only piece of jewelry I wore besides the earrings I wore to match my outfits._

"_They can't see or hear us, can they?" I asked as I looked to my mother._

"_No, sweetheart, they can't," she said, causing me to nod and step closer as Jenna started speaking in a language that I think was Latin from a thick looking book. I was never good with picking up the language, which I left to Sam and Kiki majority of the time. I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a sizzle, causing me to turn around just as she slammed the book shut and dropped the necklace into the bowl, causing it to smoke a purplish color._

"_That's how she did it? That's how she cursed me?" I asked as I looked to my mother. She merely gave me a look and nodded toward Jenna, causing me to turn and look at my step-mother as she spoke to her girls._

"_Listen to me carefully. If she breaks this necklace, you will know. Once you get that feeling, you both must come together and perform the ritual at least three times a day to keep it strong and binding. If she destroys the alter built and the book, the curse will be broken and their may be slight consequences to face. She deserves what is coming to her, so do not let her break this curse that I've stowed upon her," she said, causing me to scowl. That stupid bitch. How could she?_

"_Artemis." I whirled around to look at my mother and found that we were no longer in the attic but the basement where I had originally been before waking up. Looking at my mother in slight confusion, she simply gave me a smile and walked toward me._

"_Once I release you from this mind lock, you'll be able to wake up. But be warned that it may not be as easy as you think it might be," she said._

"_Why not?" I asked._

"_Because I did not attack you while you were here in the basement," she replied, causing me to give her a look before realization struck. Jenna's spirit._

"_You go on and wake up now. Take care of yourself," she said as she placed a hand along side my head. Before I could say anything, I found myself waking up in a cold sweat and looking frantically around the basement area that I had been in. Shakily standing up, I placed a hand at the back of my head as it throbbed painfully and pulled it away. That's when I noticed the blood._

"_What the…" But I didn't even get a chance to finish my sentence when I felt something slam me back against the wall and slash at my face. A laugh sounded and I let out a scream as I felt something slice against my stomach, blood slowly seeping through my clothes._

"_Did you really think that mommy dearest could keep you safe and away from me?" My eyes flew open and I quickly rolled to my side, despite the pain I was feeling, as Jenna lunged at me again. Getting to my feet as quickly as I could, I dodged the knife she was carrying and made for the stairs. However, she quickly materialized in front of me and slammed me back against the floor quiet hard. _

"_You're not going anywhere but where you belong for ruining so many lives. Including my family's life. You belong in hell," she said as she raised the knife. I narrowed my eyes and caught her wrist as she brought it down to stick me with the knife._

"_The only one that belongs in hell is you and that's exactly where I'm sending you by salting and burning your body," I snapped as I threw her off, causing her to fly across the room. I took in a deep breath of air before letting it out and sinking into darkness once again._

* * *

**Dean's POV**

"You guys should have called me as soon as you got here and not when Artemis is laying on the god damn couch half dead. My fucking god! What is wrong with you people?"

"Hey! She gave us the indication that you were meeting us here. Don't put the blame on us. How the hell were we suppose to know something like this was going to happen?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes at brunette that had come storming in not a few minutes prior. She was sitting on the edge of the couch quickly mending some of the fresh new wounds that had begun to form on Artemis' body while glaring at each of us in turn.

"Did it not occur to you to check every door and window before you proceeded to split up and check every surface of the house? And you call yourself supernatural hunters? Good god," she said as she shook her head.

"So what do we do? She's not waking up and Bobby doesn't have an answer to this. There's no possible way to tell what kind of spirit is loose in this house," Sam said, causing me to nod in agreement. We didn't know what kind of spirit was in the house, but we knew for a fact that it was evil since Artemis was all torn to hell. I was about to voice my opinion on what we should do when I heard a groan. Shifting my attention to the couch, I saw Artemis moving slightly and whimpering just a little bit.

"Artemis? Artemis, sweetie, open your eyes," Athena said as she stopped tending to the wounds and focused on Artemis as her eyes flickered just slightly. I peered over the arm of the couch and held my breath slightly as blue-green eyes flickered beneath the lids until they finally fluttered completely open. Letting her eyes shift, I cocked my head slightly at the emotion that was unsettling in her eyes. I swore I saw just about every emotion there was mixed right into those icy pools.

"Art, are you alright?" Kiki asked as Sam knelt down next to the couch and checked her eyes to make sure that they were focused properly. Satisfied, he slowly pushed her into a sitting position and opened up a bottle of water for her. She hissed slightly as an arm went around her stomach, but she shook off Athena's mothering instincts and took the water from Sam.

"What happened to you? You scared the fucking hell out of us when we found you so busted up in the basement," he said.

"I got attacked. I heard a noise down in the basement and went to check it out. I had barely turned around to go back upstairs when the door slammed shut and I was thrown backwards into the wall across the way. I hit it pretty good because I blacked out almost instantly," she said.

"Is that all?" I asked, causing her to tilt her head toward me before looking back at Sam.

"I was locked inside my mind for a while," she replied, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion as I met the looks of the others.

"What do you mean by that?" Athena asked, causing Artemis to sigh as she gently ran a hand through her hair.

"My mother locked me inside my mind to show me the truth," she said, causing Athena to grow a really weird expression on her face as she slowly took in what Artemis said. Sam, Kiki, and I merely looked at each lost in what was happening. Wasn't her mother dead?

"My mother's spirit is still in the house," she said as she turned and looked at us, somehow sensing the confused looks we were giving each other.

"And she did this to you?" Kiki asked, causing the blue-green pools to narrow as she stood up rather quickly, an action I'm sure she was regretting as she let out a cry. Sam reached out to steady her, but she waved him off as she turned to Kiki.

"You think the spirit of my mother would hurt one hair on my head? Unlike you, who's so naïve sometimes to this god damn bloody fucking job, I know the difference between spirits who are going to do harm and those who are not going to do harm. And my mother would never harm a fly unless it called for it. My mother's spirit has been locked away in this house since the day she died 17 years ago. She locked me inside my mind so that Jenna couldn't get to me. That's why I am so beaten and bloodied up. Because of Jenna," she snapped.

"Who's Jenna?" I asked.

"Her step-mother. Jenna committed suicide just shortly after Bryce died and right before Danny died from the curse. Artemis, what did Annabelle say?" Athena asked as she focused her attention on her friend. Artemis merely headed toward the stairs and slowly made her way up them.

"Artemis?" Sam asked, causing my brother and I to look at each other before quickly following her up. It was really starting to creep me out with the way that she was acting, but I kept my mouth shut and merely followed her up a second flight of stairs.

"Art?" Sam asked again, causing her to turn and look at us.

"When my mother locked me away in my mind, I saw some things that I kept locked away in my mind because of the pain that they caused me just thinking about Bryce and my dad. But my mother wasn't trying to make me suffer from all those memories. She was trying to help me with the truth," she said as she fumbled with the clasp around her neck before finally succeeding in getting it off and holding it out to me. I merely gave her a questionable look.

"I don't care what you think of me at this point, Dean. You can hate me and never speak to me again for what I did to you. I know it was wrong keeping it from you, but I need you right now to help me. This is the cursed object. Jenna used it to consummate the curse and the curse can be broken by breaking this bloody thing, but my step-sisters probably already have an altar set up in case they know it was broken. I need you to hang on to it until we can dig up and burn Jenna's bones," she said, causing me to look at Sam for help, but he merely shrugged in response. Sighing in slight irritation, I took the necklace and pocketed it.

"So where do we go to look for her? Obviously we're going to have to dig the body up and salt and burn it to get rid of her," Sam said, causing her to nod.

"The three of us will go do that. Kiki and Athena can stay here and tear this attic apart in hopes to finding that book that Jenna used to perform the curse. I doubt it will be here and that she left it to her daughters' for use if something happened, but it's still worth the shot," she said.

"And the bitch?" I asked.

"Jenna will more than likely come after us to stop us, so we need to be well prepared. She's crazy and will do anything to keep us from doing it," she replied.

"Alright. Then let's get to it before she tries anything more to kill you off," I said as I headed for the door.

"Why? So you can do it yourself?" she asked, causing me to stop and look at her. Her eyes were glazed with iciness, causing mine to narrow.

"Why are you so concerned with me now? A while ago you were saying you didn't care what happened to me," she said.

"So you think that just because I'm severely pissed off at you and hope you burn in hell that I intend to let some psychotic bitch of a spirit kill you gruesomely? You're completely fucked up," I said, causing her to let out a bitter laugh.

"That's real rich coming from someone who's as much at fault at this as I am," she said.

"It was a huge mistake with you, but I'm not about to give up all my principles of saving people just because you fucked up," I snapped, causing her eyes to narrow into slits. She stared at me for a split second before my hand flew to the side of my face and I yelped just slightly at the throbbing pain beginning to form. Looking to her as Sam held her back, I realized that she had just punched me.

"Screw it. I don't need your "principles" to help me. Sam and I will take care of it. Wouldn't want to waste your time and let it be another mistake," she said as she elbowed Sam in the stomach, causing him to let her go, before stalking across the room and descending down the stairs. Looking to my brother, I saw him shaking his head.

"You two are unbelievable," he said before he made to follow her and disappeared down the steps. I stared after my brother for a minute before throwing a box across the room, causing whatever was inside to shatter. What the hell was happening to me?

* * *

**Artemis' POV**

"How far into the cemetery is her grave?"

"It's pretty far in. It's kind of like in an isolated area toward the back of the cemetery. Her entire family bought a huge section of the cemetery for their own family back in like the early 1900s. Or something like that. We're going to have to dig fast because I don't know how much time we have until she decides to show up," I replied as Sam began to drive through the cemetery.

"You want to dig or am I going to dig?" he asked.

"You can dig, but I'm lighting that bitch on fire. Put me through enough hell as it is," I replied, causing him to sigh and cut the engine of the Impala when we couldn't go any further but by walking.

"And it's killing both you and Dean," he said as we got out and opened up the trunk to grab a shovel along with gasoline and salt.

"Sam…"

"Artemis, I know you better than Dean or Kiki and probably better than Athena does. It's killing you with this curse and how much it's screwed your life up, especially with Dean. It's going to end up killing you before the end of the week is up," he said.

"Dean doesn't give a damn, Sam. I've learned that in the last week or so. That bond or whatever the hell you want to call it is broken. Nothing is ever going to fix it. So I don't know why he's showing concern and I really don't care. He's the one that can go to hell for all I care. He's the one that threw this thing away and called it a mistake," I snapped, causing him to sigh.

"And this is why you two are meant for each other. Artemis, you both screwed up. Ok? You screwed up by not telling him and he screwed up by becoming a dick and throwing something good, something he'll probably never find again in his life, away because of it. I'm not sticking up for my brother or his actions, but he's confused. His mind is saying one thing and his heart is saying another. Yes he doesn't like the chick flick moments, but when it comes to you, no matter the situation the two of you are in, he's always going to show concern. No matter how pissed off and how much the two of you hate each other. The two of you are throwing away neither of you realize is the best thing that has happened in your lives," he said, causing me to sigh and shake my head in irritation. I had heard enough.

"I don't want to hear anymore, Sam. Let's just dig the grave and burn Jenna's bones," I said as we came upon her gravesite. Sam made to say something, but stopped and merely nodded when I gave him a piercing glare. He knew that I was over the subject and that if he continued to press, my temper would explode.

"Keep the light shining on me as I get further down. If Jenna shows, try to keep her busy until I can get to her bones," he said as he took the shovel from me and began to dig. I made to say something when I flew backwards and landed painfully on my back, Jenna's spirit clutching at my neck. She dematerialized with a scream as a shot rang out from Sam's gun. Lifting my head to give him a look, he rolled his eyes and resumed digging.

"No problem," I muttered as I pulled out my gun and cocked it out of safety.

"Your mother had no right to meddle in what did not concern her." I whirled around and came face to face with a scowling Jenna, causing me to shoot at her as she lunged.

"Can you hurry it along a little bit faster, Sam?!" I yelled as I nearly missed being sliced open by the same knife she had in her hand earlier.

"I'm digging as fast as I can. Oh shit!" I whirled around to see what the hell Sam was complaining about, but it turned out to be a mistake when I flew backwards and hit a tombstone. I groaned as I began to see black spots swirling before my eyes, but the groan died on my lips as I moved out of the way of the flying knife. I made to move behind the grave, but I felt nothing but air and I tumbled downwards with a short scream.

"What the…." But the words died on my lips as I stared into the face of a human skeleton inside of a coffin.

"Since you pretty much did everything you could to ruin my marriage to your father by clinging to him and possessing him with all of your poison, I figured since you are going to die anyways, you might as well join him." I turned my body to see her staring down at me with an evil smile, causing me to start moving. However, I let out a yell at the coffin door shut, causing me to land harshly on my back against what was the remains of my father.

"Now I'm just going to go take care of your little friend. Have a nice life," she said with an awful laugh before I heard the sound of dirt hitting the top of the coffin. I realized in horror that she was having someone bury me alive.

"Sam! Sam, help!" I yelled as I kicked and banged against the coffin door. I couldn't believe she had thrown me into a bloody fucking coffin and was proceeding to bury me. Or at least probably have someone bury me for her since she was a spirit. But that didn't make any sense whatsoever to me. As if I cared at this fucking moment.

"Sam! Get me the bloody fuck out of here!" I yelled as panic started to set in pretty quickly. This was not how I wanted to die. Not in the most wildest dreams did I want to die like this. With the curse on my shoulders and seeing how fast my loved ones dropped dead in front of me, it was by far the best way to go without slowly running out of air and suffocating to death like I was now. I would take the curse over this any day. Shots rang out and a yell followed, but I couldn't quite hear whether it was Sam or Jenna that had yelled since the coffin and the dirt were blocking it from getting to my ears.

"Sam!" I yelled as I banged on the coffin once again.

"You should of never let Dean stay behind! I'm going to kick your ass once I get you out here!" My eyes widened as I heard Athena's voice above me and I frantically banged at the coffin door until I heard the metal sound of a shovel hitting it head on.

"Get me out of here!" I yelled before I let out a yell of joy as I heard the clasps of the coffin coming undone and the lid being lifted. I quickly maneuvered myself up and quickly crawled up onto solid ground with the help of Sam before holding onto him tight as tears that I didn't know had been building up started to fall.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he pulled me back slightly to look me over.

"Yeah. I thought it was you who yelled, but the dirt and the coffin door made it hard for me to really hear. Did you burn her bones?" I asked, causing him to nod and motion his head in the direction of Jenna's grave. I looked over and saw the bright orange flames coming from the ground, causing me to sigh and let my head fall back on his chest.

"If it wasn't for us, princess, Sam would have seriously been hurt and you would have been stuck in that coffin for eternity." My head snapped up to look at Dean as he glared down at me, causing me to open my mouth and retort. However, Sam placed his hand over my mouth and gave me the look to keep quiet.

"I'm fine. Jenna thought it would be fun to try and kill me and she would have if Dean and the two girls hadn't shown up. Athena and Kiki knocked out the graveyard keeper, which is really weird in the sense of how Jenna was able to get him to help her out, while Dean helped me by keeping Jenna occupied while I finished the grave. Dean made sure to throw that damn necklace into the fire as well," he said.

"So it's over?" I asked.

"Jenna's spirit is," Athena replied, causing me to sigh as I rested my head back against Sam's chest. My step-mother was finally out of my hair. Yet, the curse was still there and it was still hanging over my head with less than a week to go. Less than about 5 days. Bloody hell.

* * *

"Sam says to get your ass moving. Athena's been able to locate your step-sisters."

"He can wait."

"Oh that's right. Little Miss Bitch is calling all the shots even though she's only got about three to four days before she just drops dead as a reaper takes her soul away." I turned around to give a glare to Dean as he stood in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and a glare of his own.

"How dare…."

How dare you? Is that what you're going to say? Well I've beaten you to it, princess. You need to drop the snarky attitude and "I can fix this by myself" vibe you've got gotten on because all anyone is trying to do, especially Sam, is help you out of this god damn fucking nightmare you've gotten yourself into. I doubt that it's too much to ask," he snapped.

"Coming from you? Yeah. Yeah it is," I snapped, causing him to give me an intense glare before leaving the room. I was currently in the one room I hadn't stepped foot in since the day that my mother died. Bryce's nursery. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair and looked around once more before heading for the hallway.

"Don't let him go." I stopped walking as I reached the door and slowly turned around to see my mother standing there with a soft smile on her face.

"You both are hurting, but it will hurt both of you in the end if you let him go. Don't let him go, sweetheart," she said, causing me to shake my head.

"It's his choice and I'm just enforcing it. It was never going to work out. It was all just a mistake," I said, causing her to walk toward me and I could of sworn I felt her touch as she placed her hand along my face.

"Listen to your heart, Artemis. It will tell you what to do. Don't let him go," she said, causing tears to start building in my eyes.

"I miss you," I whispered as I looked at her, causing her to smile.

"I'm always right here. Always," she said before she faded away and I was left standing alone in the room once again. Biting back a cry, I slowly made my way out of the room and shut the door behind me before descending downstairs and out of the house. Looking back at the house, I let out a sigh before walking down to the Impala.

"You alright?" Sam asked as I wiped at my eyes.

"Yeah," I replied with a nod before looking over to Dean as he kind of leaned against the driver's side door to look at all of us. He caught my look for a split second before he tore away and got into the car.

"Let's go," he snapped, causing Sam to sigh and give me a look before he got into the car as well. Sighing, I got into the Impala and Dean sped away from the curb. I knew my mother was right. My mother was usually always right in just about every situation. Her advice had never failed me when I was younger and still to this day I always took what she had said to me when I was growing up and used it to just about everything I did.

"My mother is right. I can't let him go," I thought as my eyes drifted from Dean to the scenery outside the window. There was only one thing good that had come into my life and it was threatening to slip out of it if I didn't take hold of it now. Dean was about to slip out of my life if I didn't do something soon.


	22. Chapter 21: Curse of the Past Part II

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

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**Author's Note****: **Hey guys. Sorry for the long, long, long wait for an update. Things with college had gotten really busy and I was buried in school work. But now that is behind me and I hope you all enjoy the last few chapters of the first part of what I hope will be a trilogy! Happy New Year! Enjoy!

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**The Curse of the Past: Part II**

"It's not a good idea, Athena."

"It's the best one we've got."

"They're going to know she's coming. She said so herself when she told us completely about being locked in her mind by her mother's spirit. They'll be watching and waiting for her. They might have already gone to the police in order to inform them of some psychotic girl that may have been stalking them or something. There are a number of possibilities of why she shouldn't go."

"So what do you propose, Kiki? She's already withholding information from us and she's not going to give it to us at all. She's not going to let us help her once she's able to locate what it is she needs to destroy."

"They're at it again?" I looked up and chuckled just slightly as Sam came toward me with a bag in his arms. Probably food.

"Yeah. Arguing about whether or not I should be even going. Since when do either of them get to tell me what I can and can not do? Or even where I can and can not go? I'm not a child and they're certainly not my mother," I replied, causing him to sigh as he pulled his room key out of his pocket.

"I have an answer for that, but give me a minute while I go drop this inside," he said before he disappeared inside. I let out a sigh and let my eyes shift around the motel parking lot until I let them land on Dean, who was on the other side of the parking lot washing the Impala. We really hadn't spoken to each other since we left my house and it was really bugging me. And I never let something as big as this get underneath my skin. No matter how much Dean bugged me.

"Which side is better? His front or his ass?" My head snapped up as Sam sat himself down with a grin, causing me to give him a dirty look. He merely let the grin widen as he held out a salad. I merely glared at him, but took the salad knowing that I was completely starving.

"You going to answer my question?" he asked, causing me to snort.

"He doesn't have a good side," I replied.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, causing me to sigh.

"I don't know," I replied.

"I know you guys haven't really been speaking with one another unless it has been necessary. You both are hurting. And don't tell me that it's not true or that I'm blowing smoke out my ass because you know it's true. Your emotions and facial expressions express it deeply and Kiki, Athena, and myself have seen it since we left three days ago. Even Dean notices it. He just doesn't, and probably won't, say anything," he said.

"My mom told me not to let him go," I said, causing him to give me a slightly confused look.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"When we were at my house, I was standing in the middle of Bryce's nursery just looking around the room. After Dean stormed from the room, I was about to leave when I heard her say those words. When I turned around, she was standing there with a smile on her face. She told me that letting Dean go was just going to hurt us both in the end if I let him go. She told me that I was suppose to listen to my heart and not let him go," I replied, causing him to stare at me for a second before a gentle smile appeared on his face.

"Your mom seems like she knows what she's talking about," he said, causing me to chuckle slightly as I blinked back tears beginning to build.

"Her advice always seemed to be right in any situation that I saw myself getting into growing up. Even though she died when I was only 5, I can still hear some of her words of advice and I use it to help me overcome my decisions. She always seemed to know what or how to make you feel better. But I don't know with Dean. He's the first positive thing that has come into my life in such a long time that I know I shouldn't let go, but I don't know if that will even happen. We're both hurting and he's…."

"He's drawing himself away from the situation in order to not get burned as badly as he knows he's going to. Or has been already. He's never one for expressing his emotions. He doesn't like chick flick moments," he said.

"He has a soft spot," I said, causing Sam to look at me with a grin that made me blush.

"I know. It's for you. Ever since the hospital when we were in the fucking accident, I've noticed a change in my brother. Not that I didn't before the accident, but it was more evident after the fact. Especially since my dad died. It's been tough on Dean. It really has and the more I saw him act toward you, the more I realized that he was masking his pain of the death of our dad. You were acting as a shield and he's now trying to fix himself in order to protect himself against the worse. Knowing he's losing you," he said, causing me to shake my head.

"Sam…"

"He's taking his cues from you, Artemis, whether he seems like it or not. He's looking to you to figure out what the two of you are going to do. All of this is just his way to try and cover up his pain. He's beating himself up inside, Art. It's killing him. Killing him to know that he could possibly lose you at any moment," he said.

"When did you know you were in love with Kiki?" I asked, causing him to give me a look before sighing.

"Probably a few hunts in. Probably the hunt with the scarecrow made me really look into the type of person Kiki was. Especially when she was giving Meg the evil eye. Now I know where she gets it. She's been hanging out with you too much," he said, causing me to chuckle.

"Just like that huh?" I asked, causing him to shake his head.

"It took us a while to see that we really liked each other. I was still trying to get over Jessica and Kiki had been hurt so many times in the past, especially the one before me. But you? Forget it. You wouldn't be able to tell love if it smacked you right in the face. Like Dean was," he replied.

"When did you know?" I asked.

"Know about what?" he asked.

"About me and Dean? When did you realize that we were beginning to fall for each other?" I asked.

"Around the time you really had food poisoning. When Kiki and I had disappeared off the face of the earth, but in all reality we were really kidnapped by a bunch of yahoos that hunt and kill people for fun. Hearing Dean, although it was slightly muffled out being downstairs in those cages, yell at them for touching you was a real shocker. It shocked me the way he took you under his wing and set about making sure that nobody hurt you. I had never seen my brother act the way he does with you with any other girl he's ever picked up or gone out with. Not even Cassie when we had to go help her with that black truck of doom. You mean more to Dean than life itself. He would die for you, Artemis. Just like he would with me, but he doesn't love me the way he loves you. He's just going through a rough time right now just like you are," he said.

"I don't want to lose him, Sam," I whispered as I looked at him with tears threatening to fall, causing him to sigh as he drew me into his arms.

"I don't think either of you want to lose one another. But you need to know one thing, Artemis. Whether or not Dean decides he wants you after this is all said and done doesn't change whether or not I am going to be in your life. I am always going to be here no matter the outcome. Even if Kiki and I break up or we decide to pursue something more than what we have, I'm always going to be here. I'm always going to be that, how you say, comfort bubble you always seem to need," he said.

"He means more to me than anything in my life right now and that's something that is usually not me. I've always been so isolated and cold hearted when it has come to guys. And then…"

"Then Dean and I walked into your life and you found what you were looking for even though you said that you weren't. It's like we've become literally embedded into your soul," he said, causing me to nod.

"I feel so safe and so protected when I'm with Dean. Every time he touches me, whether it's to poke me or it's to shield me from something or even a kiss, the slightest touch from him is just electrifying. I feel needed. Wanted. And I really fucked it all up," I said as the tears began to fall slowly down my cheeks, causing him to hug me tight and allow me to bury my face into his chest.

"Everything's going to be ok, Artemis. We're going to work around everything that's happening and try to fix it. And if we can't and Dean does decide to walk away, you still have me. I mean, you can't have me like that because then I think Kiki would kill us both," he said, causing me to stare at him before cracking up just a little bit. He smiled as he realized that the mission was accomplished to get a smile on my face and kissed my temple.

"I swear you should have been our little sister instead. Such a pain in the ass," he said, causing me to punch him in the arm before standing up and tossing my empty salad dish into a nearby trash can.

"So now that we've gotten that covered, how about you head inside and try to ward off World War III before I come back from talking with Dean. Those two girls are at two different ends of the pole and it won't end pretty if someone doesn't intervene," he said, motioning to the motel room. I gave a sigh but headed inside to find that both girls were still going at it.

"She's been through enough, Athena. Those two women know she's coming for them or at least have some idea. It's not a good idea for her to go."

"She has every right. This curse has been haunting her since she was 8 years old. So many people have died because of it because she didn't know. And now that she really understands what is going on, she's had to put her own life on the line for Dean. And by the looks of it, she's wanting to do everything possible to keep from losing her life. Because of Dean."

"That's still….."

"What is with you people and thinking that you can make decisions for me about what I can or can not bloody do?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest as they stopped talking and looked at me.

"Artemis, we're just trying to keep you from making a wrong decision that could…."

"Could what? Potentially have my soul ripped from me? Kill me? I've got two days left and I'm running out of options here. I'm 22 years old and you two nor Sam and Dean nor anyone else makes decisions for me but me. This is my battle. It's not yours or theirs. It's mine and mine alone," I snapped.

"Artemis…"

"No! This battle is something I've been dealing with since I was a little girl and for someone to tell me that I shouldn't be in it at the end is wrong. This is my battle and no one else's. If I fail, then it's my own fault. It just means I didn't try hard enough. I'm making the final decision and the final decision is that I'm ending this once and for all. You four don't have a say," I snapped, causing both of them to look at one another as frowns took over their lips. Sensing that I got my point through, I grabbed some clothes from my duffle bag and headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Locking the door, I let myself slide to the floor and let my head rest against the door as I let out a sigh. This was too much for me and time just wasn't on my side right now to fix it all. I had to find a plan.

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***Dean's POV***

"Am I going to have to take a shot gun to your head if you keep talking?"

"She's hurting, Dean. You have to talk to her."

"How many times do I have to tell you, Sam? No," I snapped as I threw the rags I had been using to wash my baby with into a duffle bag in the trunk before proceeding to slam the trunk shut before looking at my brother with a glare.

"So what? You're just going to walk out of her life like it's nothing?" he asked.

"Looks like it," I replied as I started walking back toward the motel room.

"You're unbelievable," he said, scoffing. I rolled my eyes and stopped walking to turn around to face him.

"What?" I asked.

"She knows she did wrong, Dean. She knows it. We've got two days to figure this stuff out before she just drops dead and her step-mother wins the battle. Just like she has up until three days ago. Well, she's still winning the war right now, but we won that battle and I sure in hell don't want to lose this other battle because then we will have lost someone we both absolutely love. Yeah, Dean. I love Artemis like a little pain in the ass fucking sister. After being with her and Kiki for almost two years, it's hard not to love her. But you? You two are so fucking similar that you wouldn't know what you have until it's too late," he replied, causing me to roll my eyes again.

"So what do you want me to do, Sam? Huh? The girl lied to me about something so huge that I'm not willing to keep something that is going to break my heart further than it already is," I snapped.

"You're not as stupid as most people make you out to be, Dean. You could have easily figured out what was happening to her and what she was hiding because she was dropping so many clues without realizing it. If she was hiding something important for the FBI or something, she would be under arrest or something for it. You are just as much at fault for this as she is. If you would have known at least a piece of this, none of this would of happened and we would have had more time to fix it. So don't blame her entirely for this. Stop being a stubborn jackass," he snapped.

"That it? You done? Ok. Good. Now listen to me. It was all a mistake hooking up with her and….."

"Stop calling it a mistake, Dean! It isn't a mistake and you know it!" he yelled, causing me to back up just slightly and stare at him in somewhat of a bit of shock. I had seen my brother angry before, but I had never seen him as angry as he was right now over this whole entire thing. And it really didn't have anything to do with him or Kiki or even Athena. It was between Artemis and myself.

"This girl is scared to death of what's going to happen to her in two days time, Dean, and all you can do is shut her out. She is trying her heart out, as are the rest of us, to find an end to this god damn curse and is in tears because of you. She just sat there in front of the motel with me for a good while crying because she's afraid she's going to lose you. Yes she was a hard ass when we first met her, but look at her now. All of this time with us has really softened her and opened her up. She's an actual person underneath all the ice. And it's because of us. Because of you. Dean, you were head over heels in love with that girl before you or her ever realized it. And I'm not going to let you fucking waste this chance to let love into your life. Let someone who isn't just a one night stand and actually can form intelligent thoughts unlike some of the long legged blondes you like picking up at bars. I'm not going to let it happen," he snapped.

"Sam, stay out of it. You've done enough," I said before I headed into the room where I found Athena and Kiki on opposite sides of the room, a negative attitude being sensed in the air as I gave my brother a look. He merely shrugged and headed over toward his girlfriend, causing me to sigh as I dropped next to Athena on the couch.

"Do I even want to know?" I asked, causing her to shake her head.

"Artemis has locked herself in the bathroom since she came back in from talking to Sam. She's angry with Kiki and I because the two of us were arguing about whether or not she should even be doing this since it could potentially spell disaster for her. But I'm not even worried about it because I've seen worse tantrums or whatever from her," she replied, causing me to look at her.

"How well do you know her?" I asked.

"Well enough to know that she's head over heels in love with you and that you're a jerk for doing what you're doing to her," she replied, causing me to give her a look. She merely raised an eyebrow in challenge, causing me to scowl.

"Athena, I don't…"

"Dean, do you know what it's like to hold a brand new baby in your arms when you're a little kid?" she asked, causing the scowl to fall from my face as I gave her a look of confusion.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you get to hold Sam when he was just a baby?" she asked, causing me to nod.

"Yeah. I've always looked after Sammy since he was just a baby. Especially since…."

"Since your mom died. Same with Artemis. She always looked after Bryce after her mom died, but that's not my point. My point is that I fell in love like a big sister when Mr. and Mrs. Summers let me hold Artemis just hours after she was born. My parents were good friends with the Summers and I never had any siblings growing up because my parents were also hunters. Artemis was and still is like my little sister," she said, causing me to give her a look.

"Your parents were hunters?" I asked, causing her to nod.

"Artemis didn't tell you?" she asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No. She said she got into it when she was about 14 years old or so because something about her parents' death was just bugging her. Said she knew that they didn't die of natural deaths, especially since she saw her mom pinned to the ceiling as the nursery began to burn," I replied.

"She got into it because she knew what hunters were," she said.

"But…."

"Dean, Artemis started hunting at the age of 14 because her parents' death was bugging her, but she got started because of me and my parents," she said, causing me to frown.

"Uh…"

"Her parents knew that my parents were hunters. I would stay with the Summers most weekends because my parents would have to go away to fight some big and bad evil and I was just too young to go out or start hunting. I mean, my parents were training me, but it was small stuff like fighting and research that I could handle with my small brain as a child. Her parents were the research end of the entire operation. Her parents researched and my parents went out and killed the thing they were after. But things slowed down for just a little bit. That's when Artemis was born. She took top priority over everything for a couple of weeks. I felt like it was my responsibility to look after her since I didn't have any other siblings," she said.

"Like I do for Sam," I said, causing her to nod.

"Exactly. Just like you look after Sam. But a lot more of a handful. I mean, she wasn't as bad as you think of her now, but she was pretty bad. Very stubborn and hard headed. Had to do things her way and had to do it by herself with no one's help. Always independent…"

"Just like she is now. Doesn't want our help and didn't want our help to start with," I said as I interrupted her, causing her to nod.

"Artemis has always shown so much independency since she was a little girl that it amazes me how much she has let herself lean on you and your brother for help in any situation she gets herself into. How much she leans on you for that protection," she said.

"Athena…"

"Dean, I know Artemis like the back of my hand. Never in my life have I seen her attach herself to someone as she has to you and your brother. Especially your brother. I don't ever remember her being so open and so emotional as she has been talking to your brother these past couple of days. And you? I can read between the lines, Dean. This girl is so head over heels in love with you that it's not even funny. Sure she screwed up by letting herself say those words, but she means them, Dean. She means them. If she didn't, do you really think we'd be in this mess right now?" she asked, causing me to sigh and run a hand over my face.

"Athena….."

"Talk to her, Dean. At least talk to her without getting sarcastic or rude or mean. She just wants to hear your voice. Wants to know that you're still there whether your body and mind just isn't there," she said.

"Athena…."

"Talk to her," she said before she stood up and walked over toward Sam and Kiki. I watched as she began speaking to them and sighed as I took in everything that Athena had said. I was getting a little annoyed with everyone putting their noses into mine and Artemis' business, but where I was more annoyed with my brother's pestering, Athena's words were floating around in my brain. Sighing again, I stood up and made my way toward the bathroom, banging twice like I normally did and turning the doorknob. I was surprised to find it unlocked and opened the door, freezing in place as I caught her reflection in the mirror on the wall.

"I'm not going to bite and it's not like you haven't seen me naked before." I rolled my eyes as I shut the door and sat down on the floor, leaning against the tub as I did so.

"So who forced you in here? Sam or Athena?" she asked as her iPod hit the floor and I heard the tub drain. She appeared next to me a minute later in nothing but a towel, causing me to swallow hard and shift just slightly as I felt something stir below. This couldn't be happening right now. Not the time. She, however, didn't appear to notice as she leaned against the tub and gave me a curious look.

"Neither. I'm here on my own accord. And you must be feeling better since you're not chewing my head off," I replied, causing her to snort and give me "the look."

"Athena told you to come talk to me. Everyone has been on your case," she said.

"Artemis…."

"I don't blame you," she said, causing my irritation of people interrupting me to vanish and give her a confused look as she pushed her wet hair out of her face.

"What…"

"I've had some time to think, Dean. Talking to Sam has always done good things for me, especially when I'm so lost that I can't find a path to take unless I talk to Sam. My mom's voice keeps floating around in my head too. About not letting you go. I can't even believe I'm saying this, but she's right. And I don't care if I have to listen to you bitch and yell about the entire thing being my fault and such. I would rather have you blame me than lose you completely. You are the best thing to have come into my life, and that includes Sam. I know I did wrong, Dean. I know I screwed up, but I would do anything to know that you weren't going to push me out of your life completely," she said, causing me to stare at her for a minute before sighing and running my hand over my face. Too many people were talking to me about this and I was more confused than ever. One minute I was going in one direction and the next in the other direction. I couldn't keep focused.

"Dean?" I snapped my head up and in the direction of Artemis as she looked at me in concern.

"Are you alright?" she asked, causing me to nod before I leant my head back against the tub and closed my eyes. I just needed a second to think before I spoke. I was taking Athena's words into consideration for the moment, which I couldn't believe I was doing since I was so intent on just leaving Artemis the second this whole thing was over. However, my train of thought was broken as there came a pounding on the door.

"Dean Winchester! You better have not killed her!" My head snapped up so fast that I swore loudly as my head collided with that of Artemis, causing her to whimper as she clutched her head.

"She's still alive, you stupid bitch!" I yelled, shaking my head slightly at Athena's ranting before looking over at Artemis as she rubbed at the spot in which we had collided. Without thinking, I moved her hands and gently took her face into my hands to look at the spot. There was no bump, but there would no doubt be a slight black and blue mark there. Letting my eyes travel to lock with hers, I lost it and kissed her hard on the mouth as I yanked her into my lap.

"Bloody fuck," she gasped as I grounded up against her.

"We'll get there, princess. We'll get there. We always do," I said before latching onto her neck, smirking when I heard a moan escape from her lips. As I made to remove the towel that was hanging loosely off her body, there came pounding on the bathroom door that caused both of us to freeze in our movements.

"You two need to get out here now. Sam's found something," Kiki said, causing me to groan as I let my head fall back against the tub in annoyance. Sam and Kiki always had impeccable timing when it came to interrupting me and Artemis. Always. No matter what the hell we were doing, they always interrup….

"Oh shit," I thought as I stopped in mid-thought, lifting my head slightly to see Artemis staring at me with slight confusion and a look that I just couldn't read. Confusion. Sadness. Lust. One of them that I just couldn't read. It was beginning to make me feel wrong and guilty for…..

"No, no, no. I can't do this," I said as I quickly got to my feet, an action that sent her tumbling from my lap and onto the floor. Without a look back, I threw open the door and quickly made my way out of the hotel into the dusky evening. The lower part of my body was throbbing from what had occurred between the two of us in the bathroom, but that was the least of my worries as I placed my head into my hands.

"Dean?"

"Not now, Sam. Not now," I snapped as I began to walk away. I needed to clear my head. I wasn't thinking straight. I was so confused with myself right now. I wanted her so bad. Every bone in my body was screaming for her. Not to let her slip away like everyone in my life had been. But at the same time I wanted nothing more than to wrap my hands around her neck and kill her. To dump her body and burn it for what she has been putting me through. I let out a sigh and ran my hand over my face. I was at a loss and I didn't even know what the hell I was going to do.

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*******Artemis' POV*******

"It's a positive id." I looked up from my sketch book as Sam and Dean came through the motel door wearing their black suits that they normally wore when impersonating the FBI or Homeland Security.

"Are you sure?" Kiki asked, standing from the table she had been sitting at with Athena as they made plans of action for the attack on my two step-sisters. I had less than a few hours to go and they were still making plans of action. Plans of action I did not plan to follow whatsoever. I had one intent in mind and it was to get rid of the altar and the book that they had. I wanted to get rid of what was holding me back from a normal life. What was holding me back from having everything I wanted. Everything including Dean.

"Thin, blonde, ugly as hell. Definitely not my type. But definitely fits the description and identification of the sisters. What's the plan of action that we have?" Dean asked as he sat down on the bed opposite me. He spared a glance at me and I held his gaze for about a second before I turned it back to my sketch book. Ever since the incident in the bathroom the night before, Dean and I had been avoiding each other. Or well it was Dean that was avoiding me. Last night was awkward for both of us but it hurt to know he was avoiding me at all costs. If anything, it probably should have been the other way around. I think.

"Do you think you can do that, Artemis?"

"Huh?" I asked as I snapped my gaze up to everyone as they looked at me.

"Were you even paying attention as I was explaining what we're planning to do?" Kiki asked, causing me to shake my head.

"And I really don't care," I replied as I tossed my sketch book onto the bed and stuffed my feet into my converses.

"What do you mean? The plan is a good one. Sam and Dean distract the two girls and we destroy the altar. We can't go wrong with it," Athena said, causing me to snort with laughter and reach for my jacket.

"I don't have time for Dean to work his charm. And do you really think that the altar is going to be in plain sight for us to just destroy? I don't think so. And we also have to destroy the book because even if we destroy the altar, they can put this curse on someone else. Someone that they see as a threat or does them wrong. I'm not going to waste the last hours I have letting them get the upper hand like they did when they were younger. Jasmine and Jamie are going to feel what I've been feeling for the last 14 or 15 years and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you tell me otherwise. I'm going to finish what I started all those years ago and if it means taking my last breath at the last second of my life, at least I know I tried," I said before I threw open the door and headed out. Making sure I didn't have any weapons of any sort on me, I ran a hand through my hair before taking off from the motel. I knew I needed to get as far from the motel as possible before the others got a start on coming after me, especially Sam or Dean.

"Yeah right. Like he'd come after me," I thought as I quickly remembered the layout of the town from the map I had been studying with Sam just hours before and tore into the wooded area near the hotel. I was so confused with Dean and it wasn't making my life any easier. Either we were at each other's throats or we were concerned for the others well being with a possible make-out session to go along with it. There was no in between and it was tearing me apart because I didn't know how to fix it. I wanted to fix it, but he was so stubborn. Just like me. But after all these years in isolation and pushing everyone away from me, I knew that Dean had brought out the one thing that I kept locked away for all these years. Love. After all the years of walls and pushing everyone away, he had broken through it and I was left with wanting and needing him more than I had ever wanted anything in my entire life. I was in love with Dean Winchester and no amount of supernatural beings was going to change that. No matter if he wanted me or not.

"Artemis!" I was brought out of my thoughts and froze in my movements as the voice rang through my ears crystal clear in these woods. The familiar sounds of branches being broken and brush being pushed aside in the manner that they were only confirmed my suspicions in relation to the voice. Dean.

"Bloody hell," I muttered as I shook myself from the state I was in and started moving as quickly as I could. I didn't want to know and I didn't need to know how the bloody hell he had figured out where I had taken off to, but it was Dean. He and Sam both always seemed to know where I was and it kind of made me jealous of their tracking skills.

"Damn it, Artemis! Stop running!" I was quickly snapped out of my thoughts once again as the sound of Dean grew closer and I tried to quicken my movement as best as I could. I knew that if he caught me, he would drag me back to the motel kicking and screaming and probably would tie me up or something to keep me out of trouble. No doubt. It was Dean Winchester after all. I seemed so lost in my thoughts once again that I let out a shriek as a weight knocked me to the ground.

"Are you insane?"

"Get the bloody fuck off of me!" I yelled, struggling to get myself out of the grip Dean had on me.

"Stop it, Artemis! This isn't helping whatsoever!" he yelled before letting out a hiss as I kneed him in the stomach and tore myself from his grip. However, I didn't make it very far before he pounced again and let out a string of curses as he struggled to hold me down.

"Let me go, you stupid bloody bastard!" I yelled.

"You're going to get yourself killed! Do you even care that we're trying to help you?!" he snapped as he straddled my waist to keep me from kicking him.

"What the bloody fuck do you care for? I'll be dead in a few hours and you won't have to worry anymore about me! Not that you give a bloody damn anyway!" I snapped, causing him to freeze and stare at me in shock. I think I may have hit a nerve, but I didn't care at that moment as I used that opportunity to use all of my weight to throw him off of me and try to stand. I saw him make a move out of the corner of my eye, causing me to hit the ground quick and kick his legs out from beneath him before flipping myself up and making another run for it. However, I didn't make it very far as something hit me so that I hit my head pretty hard as I landed back near him.

"Artemis!" But his voice was beginning to swim in and out as I struggled to bring air into my lungs and to focus on what was walking toward us. However, a sharp kick to my head caused me to let out a cry, Dean's voice screaming in my head as the darkness took over and swallowed me.

* * *

I let out a groan as my eyes tried to flutter open, the pounding headache I was having making it damn near impossible. It felt like I had been run over several times with a bloody truck and it wasn't a funny picture to think about. Making to move my hands to my head to hopefully stop some of the pounding, I realized that I couldn't move my arms and that they were somehow bound behind me.

"Don't even waste the energy you've got. Those bonds are thick rope that not even scissors can cut through. We're not as stupid as you might have thought us to be." My head snapped up at the voice, causing my eyes to narrow when I found none other than Jasmine and Jamie standing in front of me with smirks.

"I should of known," I said, my voice thick with ice.

"Well, well, well. We finally meet again, dear step-sister. I was wondering when we would be seeing you again," Jasmine said as she circled me. I let out a snort of laughter and shook my head. They were still the same two annoying bitches they were the last time I saw them when I was 8. Thin, blonde, and annoying. And now too much make-up making them even uglier than ever. Guess maybe Dean did have a good sense of thought like mine when it came to describing girls. My eyes widened as I realized that I hadn't even seen Dean when I had woken up.

"Don't worry about your pretty little boy toy. We're taking real good care of him upstairs," Jamie said with a sickening sneer as if she could read my mind.

"You touch one hair on his head and I swear that the reaper taking your soul will not be the only thing bad happening to you when I get my hands on you," I snapped as I tried pulling at my bonds.

"Aww…She's trying to act all tough and protect her boyfriend. How cute. Artemis finally finds a man that can tolerate her, a cutie that shouldn't even be in your league to start with, and she screws it up by admitting that she loves him. Aww…How cute. Too bad mommy dearest took him away from you. Or shall I say will be taking him away from you when that reaper comes for your soul in 2 hours," she said, causing me to stop pulling at the bonds and stare at her in shock. How did she know that?

"Oh dear, dear, dear Artemis. Don't look so shocked. We have our ways of knowing everything that goes on in this town. After all, we have been living here since you caused our mother to take her life. We know everything that goes on in this town. Who comes in and out, who is getting married or divorced, etc. Like I said, we're not as dumb as you thought us to be. You should be calling yourself dumb to be thinking that you could get to us and destroy the altar or book. Did you really think we were that stupid?" Jasmine asked as she knelt in front of me.

"Let me see. Blonde. Dumb as rocks. Stupid. Blonde. Your mother was psycho and so are you both. Blonde. I'm going to kill you when I get out of here. And did I mention blonde?" I asked, sarcasm heavily dripping off my tongue. Jasmine stared at me for a second before I winced slightly at the stinging on my cheek from where her hand had struck at me.

"You never could control that mouth of yours when we were younger," Jamie said as I gave her an icy glare. I wasn't about to be intimidated by them. I wasn't when I was younger and I wasn't about to be now.

"You always talked shit as we grew up, Artemis. Always. But you never could act on it. And it still looks like it. We won again, Artemis, and you're going to wish you had never been born when that reaper comes for you. We're going to enjoy watching you take your last breath. We're going to enjoy watching the look on your lover's face when he watches you die slowly in front of his eyes before we torture him to his death. Enjoy your last breathes because your time has finally come to an end," Jasmine said as she smacked me again with a laugh before she and Jamie headed upstairs. I stared at the door they had gone through for about a minute before reality hit me and I let out a scream as I tugged at the bonds around my hands.

"I'm going to kill you stupid bitches when I get my hands on you!" I yelled as I tugged and pulled as hard as I could, getting nowhere as my head and arms began to seriously throb. I let out another cry as I gave one last attempt before letting my head rest against the pole I was tied to. I couldn't believe it. With all my years of training and hunting skills I couldn't believe I had been caught by two blonde headed bitches who let some bloody book and altar do their dirty work instead of themselves. I had been in situations like this before and always had been able to get out of the situation myself or have someone get me out of it, but I knew that there was no way Dean could free himself from those two or Sam and the girls could get past whatever traps and whatnot the two could cook up. I was done for. I was going to die and it was all because I had let some bloody arrogant bastard into my heart. Something I wasn't about to regret, but still.

"But at least I'll be joining my family after all these years," I whispered as I let my eyes close shut. Although this road was a bad one, it had a good part and that was that my family was at the end of it waiting for me. No more pain, no more sadness, no more fighting to keep my life, etc. I could live in peace. I could live without the guilt of killing someone. I could live without something hunting me back. I would be living in a world without pain. Without fear. Without death. Without Dean. I let out a small sigh as he popped back into my head. I was head over heels in love with this man and it had taken me since the first time I exchanged words with him to realize it. And now it was too late.

"It's never too late." My eyes snapped open as Sam's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Sam?" I called, moving my head to look at all the spaces of the room and find nothing but air. Sighing, I knew I was hallucinating about Sam being there. But it was like his words were there to comfort me. Letting my eyes shut once again, I let my mind wander to the far away memory of being in the hospital after we had all been in the car accident and Sam being with me after I had woken up.

_*__Flashback__*_

"_How are you feeling?"_

"_Like I was run over by a truck a million times over. How's Dean?" I asked as Sam sat at the edge of the hospital bed and looked at me._

"_We almost lost him. But somehow he managed to stay in the fight and get his vitals back up. Doctor isn't giving us much hope that he'll wake up from his coma, but he said that about you too and look at you. Awake and just a big of a smartass as you were before the accident," he replied, causing me to chuckle before sighing._

"_I don't remember much with the accident. All I remember is Dean's body stiffening and his arm tightening around my waist like he knew something was going to happen. Then the bloody darkness took over," I said, causing him to nod._

"_I would expect as much. Doctor said you have to take it easy with the concussion you got. If it weren't for Dean, you probably would have been worse. But on the other hand, if you hadn't done what you did, Dean could have been worse off," he said, causing me to shake my head and sigh._

"_I should have seen this coming," I said, causing him to shake his head._

"_Don't you dare blame yourself for this, Artemis. It's not your fault. None of us knew that the yellow-eyed demon was possessing my dad. You couldn't have done anything more than what we had already done. None of this is your fault," he said._

"_We have to find a way to wake him up before it's too late, Sam. I could never forgive myself if something horrible happened to him," I said as I looked at him with tears starting to form in my eyes. Staring at me for a second, he shook his head and moved to sit next to me before drawing me into his arms._

"_It's never too late, Artemis. Never too late for anything. And Dean's going to be just fine. None of this was your fault or my fault or Dean's fault. We're going to make sure he gets back to himself and then we're going to hunt this son of a bitch. You just have to remember that there are people who are always going to stand by you no matter what happens and that it's never too late to fight. Never," he said, causing me take in what he said before burying my face into his chest, the tears starting to slowly fall as he whispered soothing words to me. _

_*__End of Flashback__*_

"Never too late." My eyes snapped open as Sam's words really sunk in. He was right. It was never too late to fight for what you wanted and believed in. Sam always believed in me no matter what I said or did or how stupid and dangerous it was. I wasn't about to let my step-sisters walk that out of me. Tugging at the bonds around my hands, I winced at the rope burn it was causing around my wrists, but I didn't care. All I cared about was ending this curse. Ending this deal. Not for myself. Not for Sam. Not Dean. Not for anyone. I was doing it to prove something to myself. To others. That I wasn't weak and that I wasn't about to let someone of the weaker mind make me bend to their will. I was strong and independent and I wasn't about to let anyone take that away from me.

"Come on, come on," I muttered as I struggled with the knots. However, after several minutes of pulling and tugging and every other trick in the book that I knew, the rope finally came undone and fell to the floor. Quickly untying my feet, I staggered to my feet and held onto the pole for support as I tried to regain my balance and focus with the pounding in my brain. After a couple of minutes of breathing in deeply, I made my way to the stairs and quickly but quietly made my way up them, stopping at the door to listen for any sound or movement. When I didn't hear any, I quietly opened the door and looked around before making my way down the hall. It was eerily quiet and it kind of concerned me, but that concern flew out the window when I looked around the corner into what was the living room and saw an unconscious Dean.

"Oh god. Dean. Dean, come on. Wake up," I said as I made my toward him and gently tapped his face when I realized that he was still breathing. I took in the sight of him and scowled at what they had done to him. He was tied tightly to the chair with the same type of rope I had been tied with and he was shirtless with knife marks working their way all across his body in the front and the back. They weren't deep, but I knew that it was painful.

"Dean, please wake up. Please," I said as I started tugging at his bonds. The thought of wanting to destroy the altar and book were put to the back of my mind and Dean came first as I desperately tried to loosen the bonds.

"Artemis?" I looked up and tried my best to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill as those gorgeous green eyes fluttered open to look at me. What was happening to him was all because of me. It was all my fault.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered as I tugged at the bonds with no avail. They were tighter than mine had been and I just hoped that circulation was getting through to them.

"Upstairs," he coughed, causing me to give him a confused look.

"What?" I asked.

"Altar. In the attic," he replied, causing me to nod but continue to work at his bonds. I was so busy concentrating on getting Dean free that I didn't realize someone was sneaking up on me until almost the last second when I felt a presence behind me. I let out a shriek as I barely dodge the knife that was being thrust at me, causing me to turn and kick the guy square in the face. He let out a howl and I made to move away but another figure came out of nowhere and grabbed me by the hair. It hurt like hell, but I moved my elbows into his stomach before kicking him backwards toward the fireplace.

"You stupid bitch. No wonder our wives hate you," one of the guys said as he held his hand against his nose, which as bleeding thanks to the kick in the face I had given him. I realized that these two idiots attacking me were Jasmine and Jamie's husbands, another set of idiots doing their dirty work.

"Well the feelings are bloody mutual," I said, dodging the knife he had in his hand before flipping the coffee table in their way as I raced for the stairs. I managed to make it about halfway up them before I let out a shriek as one of them grabbed me by the foot. I kicked him with the free foot and made to get out of the way, but they both grabbed onto me and dragged me back.

"Let me go," I said as I struggled to keep them from holding me down. But it was to no avail as the one with broken nose grabbed me by my throat. I grabbed at his hand and tried to pull, but his grip was twice that of Dean or Sam's. I struggled for air as they sneered at me with a hint of satisfaction that they were going to kill me. I was losing the fight to get air and darkness was quickly starting to take over once again.

"Hey!" I let out a strangled cry as a gulp of fresh air made its way into my lungs and I started coughing for more air as I slightly rolled to my side to see why the weight had been taken off of me like it had. Sam. I watched as Sam and Athena took to kicking the shit out of these guys while Kiki worked on getting Dean free. As Athena's guy went down, she quickly came to my side and gave me a look of concern.

"Upstairs. Attic," I said, causing her to give me a look of confusion before realizing what I was getting at. With a quick nod, she hurried up the stairs and I could hear doors banging open as she looked for the entrance to the attic. Rolling onto my back, I heaved in a big gulp of fresh air and slightly winced as my hands made their way to my throat. I was no doubt going to have a black and blue mark there for weeks.

"Are you alright?" My eyes shifted open as Sam gently pulled me into a sitting position and gave me a look of concern.

"Yeah. I'm alright. Dean?" I asked.

"A couple of scratches can't kill me, princess." I looked up as Kiki helped Dean keep a steady balance as they came from the living room, Dean wincing slightly over his cuts. A wave of guilt washed over me and I tried not to cry.

"Oh god. I'm becoming an emotional mess," I thought as I shook my head, only to wince as the throbbing started again in my head.

"Their not there. They escaped out the window and through the god damn fucking brush behind the house. I destroyed the altar but they had to take the book with them." I looked up as Athena appeared at the top of the stairs with a pissed off look on her face.

"Damn it," I hissed as I stood up, only to be push back by Sam.

"Hold on. Let us take care of it. You and Dean are injured and in no condition to go looking for another fight," he said, causing me to scowl and push him away from me.

"This isn't your fight, Sam! I won't let them make me bend to their will anymore," I snapped before I shoved him out of my way and quickly made my way through the house, ignoring the shouts from the others. As I threw open the backdoor and stepped onto the porch, it began to rain. But I didn't care about that as I took off from the porch and into the brush by the trail I knew my step-sisters had taken. I had a mission and I was going to die trying if that was what it took to end this thing once and for all.

"I won't let them win," I thought, wincing as branches and twigs ripped at my shirt and at my skin, but I kept pushing the brush out of my way. I was determined and nothing was going to stop me. Nothing at all. I could hear giggling nearby and I knew I was close. However, I didn't know how close I was until I tripped to the ground and I felt a kick to the stomach. I let out a gasp as the air was knocked out of me, but I saw Jamie out of the corner of my eye aim right for my head and I rolled out of the way with a groan just in time.

"Do you really honestly think you can beat us?" Jasmine asked as she shoved me to the ground as I tried standing up. I let out another groan as my head collided with a rock, thanks to the muddy ground, and winced as the rain washed the blood down my face.

"So you got loose and destroyed the altar. Big deal. Did you forget that you have to destroy the book as well. And why won't you stay down?" she asked as she shifted the book in her arms before proceeding to kick me in the stomach once again. I let out a slight whimper as I tried to bring the air back into my lungs. These girls just weren't playing fair. Dirty was all they knew how to fight. That hadn't changed one bit.

"You know something? It's really sad that you have to go this way. It would have been much more fun torturing you to your death. The reaper taking your life, however, will be worth the wait from all these long years. All those years afraid and alone. Pushing everyone away from you and letting hatred for you sink into their skin. You should be begging us for you life," Jamie said, causing me to snort with laughter as I struggled to my feet.

"I'm not afraid of you," I said as they stared at me in shock.

"What?" Jasmine hissed.

"I was never afraid of you when we were younger and it hasn't changed now. I may be on the edge of dying but I know one thing that you don't," I said as my eyes narrowed into slits.

"And what's that?" Jamie asked with a sneer.

"When I destroy that book of yours, you're going to be begging for you lives when the reaper that you and your mother bounded comes after you," I replied, causing the two of them to look at each other and then at me in shock.

"What are you talking about?" Jasmine asked.

"I made a deal. Remember how you said you know everything about everyone who comes and goes in this town? Well you forgot to get one little detail. I made a deal with the reaper when she came after me the night I told Dean that I loved him and meant it. Your souls for mine. The altar's destroyed and the only thing left is to destroy that book. I'm done running from my past. I'm done running from you two bitches who are using this against me because your mother told you to. My father was always going to love me and my brother more than her and you two. Always. I'm done running. I'm not afraid of you," I replied. They stared at me for a second, the shock no doubt swirling in their minds, before Jamie pulled out a knife and let out a scream as she attacked me. The rain was coming down in sheets by now and it was making it difficult for me to try and keep my footing, but I did the best I could to fight back despite the knife.

"We're going to kill you to make sure that it doesn't happen," she said, causing me to roll my eyes as I dodged the knife once again. I made to make a comment, but found myself on my back and grasping my head as pain shot through both my head and legs where Jasmine, who I had forgotten about as I concentrated on not getting stabbed by Jamie, had kicked my feet out from beneath me before kicking me hard in the head. How many times were these girls going to aim for that particular spot?

"Artemis!?"

"Sam!" I yelled as I recognized his voice close by, only to let out a shriek and kick Jamie hard in the stomach with my foot as she tried to drive the knife toward my head.

"Hey!" I used the opportunity of their distraction by the arrival of both the boys and girls to knock Jasmine's feet from beneath her and send the book in her hand flying. I scrambled for it, but I flew backwards as Jamie grabbed on my hair and pulled. I managed to grab onto her wrist and pulled her with me, the two of us become entangled with one another. As I made to throw her off of me, a beeping sound began to buzz in my ears as I realized that my watch was going off. My eyes widen as I realized coldness starting to seep in around me and my breath began to quicken. Looking at my watch, Jamie smirked as she grabbed a hold of my throat, causing me to snap out of my shock and scratch at her arms.

"You're end is finally here, Artemis. All these years of suffering from the loss of our mother is finally going to end. You're going to die in a matter of minutes and we're going to be free of you at last," she said as the grip of her hands tightened, causing me to struggle as I saw black robes out of the corner of my eye.

"It is time child." My eyes shifted upward as I saw the motherly looking reaper looking down upon me.

"No," I rasped as I began to struggle more. I wasn't going to let it end like this. It couldn't end like this. Not after everything I had been through with Kiki and Sam and Dean. But Jamie's grip on my throat and my lack of energy because of earlier events was not allowing me to have the upper hand and I could feel my heart start beating faster as the reaper's hand touched my head.

"Hey!"

"No. No. No!"

"Somebody help!"

"Artemis? Artemis?" I swore I could hear Dean's voice but I couldn't be sure as the darkness began to slowly take over. The rain was falling heavily onto my skin and although my lungs felt like they could breath again, the struggle of trying seemed so pointless at the point as I slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Hey. I think she's waking up." The sound of beeping filtered through my ears and the warmth of someone's hand along my face was enough for me to let my eyes shift open. Letting them adjust to the light, they focused on Sam as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Sam?" I whispered.

"Thank god you're awake. We thought we almost lost you," he said, causing me to let my eyes shift around the room and land on Kiki and Athena, who were looking at me with looks of relief on their face.

"What happened?" I asked as my voice started to return to normal.

"Obviously you're still here. You've been out for about a day or so, but you're here," Athena replied, causing me to give them a look before realizing what they were saying.

"Are you…."

"Yeah. You ended it. The curse has been lifted and your two step-sisters are dead. Dean and Athena burned the book while we took care of the other sister, who put up a real good fight believe it or not. You're still with us. We thought we lost you when Dean got to you after burning the book," Sam said as I nodded.

"I thought I heard his voice. How's Dean?" I asked.

"Always worried about me, aren't you, princess?" I shifted my gaze from Sam to Dean as he leaned against the doorway with a smirk. Rolling my eyes, I shifted myself up as Dean told Sam and the girls to get lost. Giving me a confused look, I merely shrugged and watched as they left the room and Dean threw himself in the chair next to the bed.

"You look better," I said.

"And you look pretty much alive," he said, causing me to shrug.

"I got lucky," I said, causing him to shake his head.

"I wouldn't call it luck," he said, causing me to sigh.

"You could of just let me die," I said.

"I told you. I don't need Sam on my ass. That kid would have me killed if I let anything happen to you," he said, causing me to shrug before letting out a sigh as I let my head fall back on the pillow.

"Dean…"

"Don't. I can't do this, Artemis," he said as he stood up.

"Dean…"

"This was never meant to be, Artemis, and you know it. I was confused and lost with everything going on, but now, even with everything that went down, we're just doomed. We're not meant to be together and with everything that transpired with all of your secrets and what not, it's just not going to work. At least you'll be happy with going back to hunting by yourself now that you got rid of that curse. The cops want to talk to you when I leave here. Take care of yourself, Artemis," he said as he headed for the Dean.

"Dean, please don't leave," I said as he stopped at the door. Looking back at me, he shook his head.

"Call Sam if you ever need us. Take care of yourself, Artemis," he said before walking out of the room. The second he left, two officers stepped into the room.

"Miss Summers, we're here to question you about the death of your two step-sisters. Can you answer a few questions?" one of them asked. I looked at them for a second before nodding. Listening to them start talking, I let my head fall back against the pillows and stare at the door in which Dean had disappeared. I couldn't believe it. He walked out of my life. He literally walked out of my life. Out of my life without so much as a goodbye. He had literally taken the key to us and buried it.

"Oh god," I muttered as tears started falling from my face. The cops stopped talking and looked at me in slight concern, but I ignored them as I buried my face into my hands. I had lost him because of the curse. Although it was gone, it still one out in the end because I had lost the one person outside of my family that meant more to me than anything. The one person I truly gave my heart to. The one person who would risk his life for my own. It was just the slightest things he did to make me fall in love with him and then lose him.

The slightest touch of love had given and taken Dean Winchester from me.


	23. Epilogue

**Disclaimer****:** I do not own any of the Supernatural characters as they are the property of the CW. I do, however, own any characters introduced within the story as they are sole property of my mind.

**Summary****: **Hot tempered. Stubborn. Strong headed. Smartass. Dean Winchester has met his match in the form of a female out on a hunt. Supernatural hunters themselves, 21 year old Artemis Flora Summers and her best friend find themselves tangled within the Winchester web as they join the boys on their hunt for their father. Hiding a dark secret that only her best friend knows, Artemis begins to find it hard to keep it a secret as sheclashes head on with the eldest of the Winchester boys. What happens when she realizes that she may be falling head over heels for him? Is the past about to repeat itself once again with her?

* * *

**Epilogue**

"I can't believe the wedding is tomorrow. Do we have everything?"

"Does anyone know where the tiara is? It's been misplaced again!"

"Mom! One of the bridesmaid's dresses has a wrinkle in it!"

"I can not believe you are just sitting there reading a book while my family is running around here with their heads cut off like chickens just because I'm getting married tomorrow. How do you do it?" I let out a chuckle and looked up from my book as my best friend threw herself onto the couch across from the chair that I was sitting in.

"It's called practice. Remember?" I asked as she snorted with laughter.

"How can I not? Are you ever going to forgive him?" she asked, causing me to shake my head.

"No. He's the one that took that step and never looked back. I'm only tolerating him because I have to for the sake of his brother's fiancée, who happens to be my best friend. Things will go back to normal after you and Sammy leave tomorrow for your lovely honeymoon. Or whatever it is that you call those things," I replied.

"Honeymoons, Art. And you know as well as I do that he still cares for you. He actually always asks about you when he sees or talks to Sam and I," she said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I'm sure he does," I said with sarcasm.

"Art…"

"I'm going out for air, Kiki. Try helping out your dysfunctional family before they end up killing one another before the wedding tomorrow," I said, slipping my shoes on and throwing on my jacket before heading outside as the chaos inside started to heat up. With the wind nipping lightly at my face, I headed down the street to the one person I knew that I could easily talk with without having to spill my problems to.

"Chaos over at the Orion house?"

"Shut up, Sam," I said as I gave him a dirty look before proceeding into the living room.

"Aren't you suppose to be helping the bride make sure everything is ready for tomorrow since you're the maid of honor?" he asked as I threw myself onto the couch and he sat in the chair across from me.

"I've been reading a book the entire time," I replied with a smirk as he merely shook his head.

"Just like Dean. Never want to be caught up in the chaos if it isn't something supernatural," he said, causing me to give him a dirty look as he sighed. I really didn't like this topic or possibly where this conversation was going.

"Art, you have to forgive him. He really does care about you," he said, causing me to laugh with a bit of venom in it.

"Are you sure Kiki didn't knock you in the head a few times when practicing your fighting skills? He was the one that walked out on me. He took that first step when we killed what was after me. He never looked back, Sam. How can you and Kiki just sit there and tell me that I have to take him back? We weren't even together," I snapped.

"Yes you were," he said.

"Oh what? Physically? Oh sure. That was about it. Not fucking mentally or emotionally, Sam. Not like you and Kiki," I said.

"Yes you were," he said, causing me to stand up and give a mocked laugh as I did so.

"What the hell would you know, Sam? You and Kiki had the perfect relationship right from the start. You got along just fine. You're getting married tomorrow. You two were meant for each other. Me and Dean? Never going to happen because we can not be anymore different," I snapped.

"You two are exactly the same. Attitude. Stubbornness. Everything. You two are probably more likely to be entwined at the soul than me and Kiki. It should be you and Dean at the alter tomorrow. Not me and Kiki. And you know it's true, Artemis," he said as he stood up.

"How can you stand up for your prick of an older brother when he did me wrong?!" I yelled as I looked at him in disbelief.

"I'm not, Artemis. Yes he was wrong walking away from you after everything happened, but you're just as wrong in this situation right now as he was then. He was hurt, Artemis, that you kept this from him. He fell in love with you. Something he never admits to anyone," he said as calmly as possible.

"And I didn't fall in love with him, Sam?" I asked with sarcasm.

"I didn't say that, Artemis, and you know it. And you know something? I can't believe

I'm even having this conversation with you right now. You're just like Dean. Won't listen to a word anyone says when you think you're right. Stubborn bitch you are," he snapped.

"Too right you are. And I'm proud of it. I'm out. If Kiki calls looking for me, tell her I've drowned myself because people are retarded around here," I said before I stormed from the house before I did something I knew I would instantly regret later. Heading down the street without a direction in mind, I let out a scream and ran my hands through my hair in

frustration at what just occurred.

"Why can't they just leave me alone about it?" I thought, quickly pulling the hood of my jacket over my head as it started to drizzle. Of all the things it needed to do the night before my best friend's wedding, it had to rain.

"I'm betting on no such luck on it being a good rain to bring the bride and groom luck. Haven't had that much luck in the bloody past. Oh shut up. God damn you, Sam," I muttered as I shook my head. No doubt the conversation that had happened would weigh heavily down on us for later, especially with us having to be around one another for the wedding tomorrow.

"Ugh. Great. I'm stuck with the bastard for several bloody hours," I said with a sigh as the rain started to fall just a little bit more.

"Of all the things you can call me, that's the only thing you can come up with?" I froze in mid-step as the smug voice rang crystal clear through my ears.

"What? A year or so and not even a hello? You're slacking, princess."

"Dean?" I whispered as I slowly turned around to see the man in question leaning against a fence with that trade mark smirk of his. The smirk that I had fallen in love with nearly three years ago. Or well the man attached to it anyways.

"Wait. What?" I thought, shaking my head before my eyes narrowed into slits as memories started flooding back.

"Looks like we got some catching up to do, princess," he said as he came toward me, causing me to snort with laughter.

"Like hell we do, Winchester. We're pretty much back where we started three years ago when we first met," I snapped as he stopped where he was and narrowed his eyes. He knew what I was talking about. The very first time we met and the fact that we never got along. The fact that I wouldn't let go of the past and never forgive him. The fact that he was indeed the jerk I thought he was when we first met three years ago. I was not about to let the past repeat itself.

"I see you haven't gotten rid of that bitchy attitude in the last year," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"And it seems you haven't gotten rid of the arrogance since I last saw you. I figured you would have been dead or something since you didn't really have anyone to save your ass with the whole agonizing process of Sam and Kiki's wedding," I said, causing him to roll his eyes this time.

"I see you haven't really changed at all," he said.

"What do you expect? A year away from everyone has allowed me time to myself," I said.

"And to become a lot colder. Tell me something. Do they charge you a lot in hell to be an cold-hearted bitch and build up non-damageable brick walls?" he asked, causing me to give him a dirty look.

"Done with the insults?" I asked.

"Not even quite. It's nice to see you return the concern that I've been showing," he replied with sarcasm.

"Oh that's real rich. Especially coming from the guy who shut the door and buried the key," I said as I felt my temper starting to rise. His eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"So you blame me for this? That's real rich coming from the girl I spilt my heart to and then had her rip it out with her secrets and lies," he said.

"You busted through those walls and it took you long enough to figure out what was going on with me unlike everyone else. You were the one who walked away and shut the door, Dean. You walked away and never looked back a year ago. I tried to fix it, Dean. I did, but you would have none of it. I'm sorry that I kept it from you. I'm really sorry and I regret not telling you from the beginning, but do not put blame on just me when it's just as much your fault as it is mine," I snapped as I tried hard to keep tears from building up and falling. I was not going to let him get the better of me and see how much I had actually been suffering this past year despite putting on a cold hearted act every time Dean was mentioned.

"I have to go. Last minute things with Kiki. I'll see you tomorrow at the church," I said as I walked past him, ignoring his calls to me as the tears started to fall slowly down my cheeks. No wonder I stayed away as much as I could from Sam and Kiki. The wounds from my heart were still trying to heal. And this wedding just wasn't helping.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome for the first time ever, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel and Lauren Winchester!" I let out a laugh as I cheered and clapped for Sam and Kiki as they entered the reception hall after the long, grueling wedding we all had to endure just an hour before. It was nice and romantic, but I think I'll just skip all the torture and elope whenever I decide I want to get married.

"They look so adorable together. Who would have thought that a simple hunt would land a god like Sam into Kiki's lap?" I let out a laugh at Athena's comment as we watched Sam and Kiki take to the floor for their first dance as husband and wife. She was right though. Sam and Kiki made a great couple and they looked absolutely happy together as they laughed and kissed throughout the entire dance.

"He's staring at you," she said, causing my eyes to shift just slightly across the room where Dean was standing among the crowd with a girl hanging on his arm. Our eyes locked for a second before I tore them away and looked at Athena. She gave me a sympathetic smile before she spoke to David in hushed tones as I fought back my emotions to stay neutral throughout the reception. Dean and I had been civil with one another at the church and we were going to try to remain civil throughout the reception for the sake of Sam and Kiki, but I wasn't sure how long I could hold on with knowing that some blonde slut he had picked up a few days prior was hanging off his arm as his date.

"Wait. I'm not jealous," I said as I slightly shook my head and gave Athena a reassuring smile that I was ok. The rest of the reception seemed to go by without a hitch as speeches were made and cake was eaten. People seemed to be having a really good time as I approached Sam with a hug.

"Make sure you take care of her, Sam. I don't want to have to hunt you down to hurt you," I said with a wink as he laughed.

"I'm not making any promises," he joked. I merely rolled my eyes and smacked him in the arm before I allowed myself to be pulled into another hug.

"He's been watching you all night. Speak to him," he said, kissing me on the forehead before heading off toward Kiki as she made rounds to speak with the guests that had come. Leave it to Sam to say something. I let out a small sigh and turned around to go talk to Athena, only to jump just slightly as Dean raised his eyebrow in amusement.

"Looks like I still have the touch," he said, causing me to roll my eyes.

"What do you want, Winchester?" I asked, causing him to merely smirk as he grabbed my hand and began pulling me toward the dance floor.

"I owe you a dance. I think," he replied, the beginning of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" began to play as he pulled me close to him. Panicking just slightly, I looked around to Sam and Kiki or Athena for help, but they just smiled encouragingly before going back to their business. Swallowing slightly, I looked back at Dean, that same smirk still on his face as he gently swayed me to the music.

"Isn't your date going to be angry?" I asked, causing him to shrug.

"She'll get over it," he replied.

_I could stay awake just to hear you breathing  
__Watch you smile while you are sleeping  
__While you're far away dreaming  
__I could spend my life in this sweet surrender  
__I could stay lost in this moment forever  
__Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure_

_*(Chorus)*  
__Don't want to close my eyes  
__I don't want to fall asleep  
__Cause I'd miss you baby  
__And I don't want to miss a thing  
__Cause even when I dream of you  
__The sweetest dream will never do  
__I'd still miss you baby  
__And I don't want to miss a thing_

"Dean…" But he merely twirled me away from him before bringing me back tight into his arms, tilting my head up slightly so that our eyes were locked as he began to sing softly with the song.

_Lying close to you feeling your heart beating  
__And I'm wondering what you're dreaming  
__Wondering if its me you're seeing  
__Then I kiss your eyes  
__And thank God we're together  
__I just want to stay with you in this moment forever  
__Forever and ever_

_*(Chorus)*_

I felt tears beginning to form in my eyes as they looked into the green ones I had become so familiar with over that two year period we were hunting together. The green ones that haunted me at night as I tossed and turned. Letting my eyes shift just slightly, I could see that we were the only ones still out on the dance floor and that everyone was watching us carefully. Stepping slightly away from Dean, I looked to Sam to give him an apologetic look, but I was surprised when I saw a grin on his face.

"Dean, what the hell…." But I never got a chance to finish my question as an ear piercing scream ripped through the room, causing Dean and I to look at one another before taking off for the doors with Sam right behind us. I would have slipped to the floor having run over something wet, but Dean wrapped his arm tight around my waist and kept me from falling as the three of us came to a dead end within the hallway. Maneuvering out of Dean's grip, I pushed open the ladies restroom door and stopped before I even really stepped a foot inside.

"Oh god. Kiki!" I yelled, hurrying inside and frantically looked inside the entire facility as Dean and Sam stormed inside at the sound of my cry.

"Art…."

"Fresh blood," I said as I pointed to the counter where there was fresh blood slowly dripping from a section of the counter to the floor.

"And sulfur," Dean said as he stood up from the floor and gave the two of us a look. A demon. Looking to Sam, I wasn't sure what to do as his eyes swept from the sulfur on the floor to the blood on the counter. It seemed like forever until he lifted his gaze to Dean and I, causing me to step back just slightly at the frosty look he was giving us.

"We need to find her and find her now," he said before he yanked at his tie and stormed from the bathroom, leaving Dean and I to look at one another with a knowing look. Giving a nod of understanding, he grabbed my hand and led me out of the bathroom where we had to shove our way through the number of guests that were trying to figure out what was happening and where the bride was. I was never more glad to see the 1967 Chevy Impala sitting in the parking lot than I was at that moment as we quickly left the building.

"Might want to change into something more comfortable. You ain't going to be able to move around much wearing that," he said as he popped the trunk and reached for his duffle bag. I made to comment when I saw Sam storming from the building with Athena at his side. I gave Dean a questionable look, but Sam answered it as he tossed his bag into the trunk.

"We've got work to do," he said as he slammed the trunk down and gave us a look. I looked to Athena as she nodded, causing me to realize that she was in on this with us this time. Nodding my head to Sam as well, I knew we were in for another crazy ride and it was going to be worse than last time.


	24. Final Note

Hey guys,

Yes, yes, yes. It's sad that this story has come to an end and I know so many of you readers have so many questions like "What the hell has happened to Kiki?" and "What's to become of Artemis and Dean?" , but the Breath of Life prologue is already in the works and will be up shortly. Breath of Life will pick up with "Blood Lust" in Season 2 and work its way through at least two to four episodes of Season 3.

A minor note to tuck away in your mind is that Artemis' long time friend, Athena, will be a crucial character to the storyline I'm creating for this squeal, especially to the last few chapters and the ending I have planned.

So the waiting for this squeal won't be long and I hope you guys will enjoy it like you have Slightest Touch. Thanks for all the reviews that you guys have given and I hope that the squeal will be just as big of a success!

Artemis


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